Raglan residents had a chance to look and comment on the plans for the new Raglan Primary School on Monday night (27th January) in the Community Rooms.

The new school is to be built on ground formerly known as Brookes Holdings and although the plans have not been submitted to Monmouthshire County Council's (MCC) planning department, the contractors hope to start by June this year, aiming to have the building completed for the 2015 September term.

The project comes under the Welsh Government's 21st Century Schools programme, a collaboration of local authorities and government.

The new plan adopts a different approach to learning and changes classrooms into learning plazas, with year groups paired up and studying together.

Raglan Primary School was identified as a priority development due to the shortcomings of the current building, with major issues such as high maintenance levels, deterioration and timber rot in the external walls.

The project is costing just under £5million, including £200,000 for a feasibility study. Of the remaining £4.5 million, 50 per cent will be funded by the Welsh Government, and the remaining 50 per cent is expected to come from capital receipts, such as the sale of the Abergavenny livestock market site.

The new building will incorporate a number of green energy features, including a biomass boiler, photovoltaic panels on the roof, greywater harvesting, with lighting and ventilation from natural sources.

Access will be from Station Road and a new mini-roundabout will be created at the present entrance to the school leading to a car park, and a footpath will take pupils and parents across the brook to the new school.

The building will also have a community room facility for up to 30 people with a tea point so residents can continue to hold groups and classes in the daytime, with evening and weekend groups having much more access to the building's facilities.

Jeremy Piper, the headteacher of the school, was enthusiastic about the plans.

"It's the same size school, accommodating 210 pupils, but will be set out in a different way and will have three learning plazas," he said.

"The Foundation Phase pupils, reception, year one and year two will have a learning plaza with dividers in it, so we can make three classroom spaces, and also bring them into one."

Some were not so enthusiastic, however, and concerns were voiced about the space available during the day for residents, with some feeling it was a grossly inadequate facility for a village with over 1,000 people.

Margaret Lawrence, along with colleagues Mary Davies and Jenny Swatridge, were concerned that the community facility was not good enough.

Mrs Lawrence, one of the founder members of the Village Hall Committee, asked what had happened to all the money that the village had put in for a community centre.

"I feel responsible to the village to do something, we have lost every single thing, we have access to nothing and a village this size has nothing at all."

Mr Piper assured them that there will be another specific meeting for interested groups another day.

Speaking to the Beacon after the meeting, Jacqui Morris, client liaison officer for the 21st Century Schools team at MCC, said: "MCC is excited to be working with the school and community in Raglan to create a 21st century learning and teaching environment that will benefit all citizens.

"We are committed to working in partnership to deliver the facility on time and within budget. The new environment will open in September 2015."