Flintshire Council’s Education Scrutiny Committee Satisfied with Explanation for Land-Swap Deal

Flintshire Council’s Education Scrutiny Committee has declared itself satisfied with the authority’s explanation of confusion over a land-swap deal linked to its Catholic super-school plans.
Critics of the proposals accused the council of eroding public confidence by ‘drip-feeding’ information around plans to borrow £8.25 million to fund a contribution to the £55m 3-18 super-school and how that money might be recovered.
But after hearing the arguments members of the Education, Youth and Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee voted 7-4 in favour of accepting the Cabinet’s explanation.
The call-in was triggered by Reform UK Wales council members – and Flintshire’s last remaining Conservative Cllr Adele Davies-Cooke – following the decision by Cabinet to move the super-school consultation to the formal objection stage.
It also followed comments – which have since been retracted – by council leader Cllr Dave Hughes suggesting there were ongoing negotiations with the Diocese of Wrexham over a potential land swap involving one of the schools slated for closure, St David’s Catholic Primary in Mold.
The lead member for the Call-in, Reform UK leader Cllr Helen Jones, said she had evidence that the council and the Diocese were in talks about land at St David’s.
She presented an email from last month where, in response to a question, a council officer reported talks over a deal to potentially build 36 homes on the site of the former nunnery behind St David’s.
That would have required access via the school – but Cllr Brown was told that in November 2025 Wendy White, the Director of Education for the Diocese, told the committee that those talks stopped as soon as the super-school plans became public.
When pressed the deputy leader of Flintshire Council, Cllr Richard Jones, said there had been no further discussions of a land deal and presented emails between the council’s leader and chief executive and the council and Bishop Peter Brignall confirming no talks had taken place with regard land at St David’s.
Later Cllr Jones made a statement confirming there had also been no discussions in relation to land at St Anthony’s Catholic Primary in Saltney – another of the schools the plan proposes closing.
Earlier in proceedings the Cabinet Member for Education, Cllr Mared Eastwood, explained that whjether there was a land swap in play or not, that wouldn’t have a material impact on the decision of the council to progress with the consultation.
But members of the committee and those behind the call-in said they were frustrated that they were still having to fight for answers to questions they have been asking across two consultations dating back to February 2025.
“So it transpires that the code may not require you to consider land transactions, but as a Cabinet who are borrowing public money on behalf of taxpayers and who will have to foot the bill for years to come, you absolutely should bring everything, including land deal swaps, onto the table,” said Cllr Brown.
“When the confidence of the public in this council are at an all time low, you must be upfront. We are not saying whether or not a land swap is a good thing or a bad thing, not disclosing material information and drip-feeding emails here this afternoon when pushed is very poor and doesn’t give anybody any confidence whatsoever.
“The public must be able to have the confidence that a decision of this magnitude was made transparently on the basis of all relevant information. It’s quite clear today that this information has been asked for previously in this committee and has not been forthcoming.”
That point was echoed by Liberal Democrat Cllr David Coggins-Cogan, speaking as a committee member.
“There have been comments – and I think there’s a certain amount of fairness to them – that we keep re-litigating various issues over and over again about this,” he said.
“The reason for that is because it’s only ever been discussed in little bits and in various scrutiny committees and call-ins.”
He seconded a motion by Flintshire People’s Voice Cllr Carolyn Preece to send the whole matter to full council for debate.
“It would make sense for it to go to full council,” he said. “It does affect ratepayers of the county, it affects our children and grandchildren who will be paying it off for 50 years.
“I would hope that the rest of the committee would go for that because we can just lance the boil, have one big discussion, get it over and done with and move forward because otherwise it’s just going to continue going round in circles.”
Cllr Preece said the committee should not have to work so hard to find out all the facts.
“It has been a very interesting afternoon,” she said, “We have been drip-fed pieces of information, which I’m not actually happy about, and I feel that we have still not got all the information that we require and need.
“We need it at full council because it affects the lives of everybody in Flintshire. It is a lot of money that we’re talking about.”
Fellow committee members disagreed however and voted to accept the Cabinet’s explanation of the situation – meaning the process will continue uninterrupted.
Cllr Bill Crease, who proposed the motion to accept, said the specific questions asked about a rumoured land-swap had been answered.
“The call-in was based on potential land discussions,” he said. “We’ve had the Chief Officer, the Chief Executive, the Bishop all confirm that there have been no discussions during the school reorganisation.
“Indeed, the email that Cllr Brown provided us with confirmed that the moment a school reorganisation was on the table, the Diocese withdrew from any discussions relating to land transactions at St David’s in Mold.
“On that basis, I believe the cabinet were properly informed. I believe that this decision was legally taken and we need to go forward.”

By Alec Doyle – Local Democracy Reporter

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