More children who live in England, near the border with Wales, could receive Welsh-medium education under a planned cross-border partnership.
Two councils in Wales, Powys and Monmouthshire, are pairing up with Shropshire and Herefordshire in England as part of a new deal which would see them create a formal agreement for the first time.
At a meeting of Powys County Council’s cabinet on Tuesday, one councillor said there were “many families in and around Oswestry who come from a Welsh heritage and a Welsh-speaking heritage”.
Councillor Pete Roberts pointed out that Oswestry has the only Cylch Meithrin (a Welsh-medium nursery) outside of Wales.
“I hope one of the opportunities that this brings forward to us is a chance to work with our colleagues in Shropshire and other counties along the border to actually extend the ability for those families to participate in Welsh-medium education,” he said.
Cllr Roberts added that he would like to “use this partnership as a way to advance plans to enable cross-border support for those families who would like to take up fully Welsh-medium education”.
Parents living in a county in England can currently opt to send their children to a Welsh-medium school just over the border, and their application would likely be accepted if there are enough spaces available.
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If an education setting is oversubscribed, the council would follow its oversubscription criteria and applicants living in the immediate area would be given priority.
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Powys Council leader James Gibson-Watt said the four council areas were “not entirely homogenous” but that they did face similar issues.
“We do all face very similar problems and the links economically and socially between our four areas are very extensive and important,” he said.
“I think the cabinet is united in wanting Powys to be an outward-looking, collaborative organisation.”
A memorandum of understanding between the four councils will be signed in early November, if plans are approved by all four local authorities.
