MILLIONS of pounds are set to be invested in schools in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Pencoedtre High School, in Merthyr Dyfan Road, Barry, will be completely rebuilt after Vale of Glamorgan Council gave final approval to the plans on Wednesday, February 27.

The school had been in line for refurbishments, but will now get a completely new building as funding for the next stage of the Vale of Glamorgan Council’s 21st Century Schools Programme has risen to nearly £144m.

St Nicholas CIW Primary School, in Cardiff, is also set to get a new 210-place building, but a consultation needs to be held before this project is given final approval.

Band B of the 21st Century Schools Programme will now see Welsh Government’s contribution increase from £84.6m to £101m, while the council’s funding will reduce by £16.5m from £59.3m to £42.8m.

The council is re-allocating £5.1m of that to be put towards the Pencoedtre High School new build, and a new and expanded Centre for Learning and Wellbeing to replace the Pupil Referral Unit at Amelia Trust Farm.

The money will also be put towards more additional learning need provision at Ysgol y Deri in Penarth.

But that still left the council needing to spend £11.3m less on the 21st Century Schools Programme.

Labour put forward an amendment to use that money to refurbish some of the Vale’s existing schools, but this was defeated 27 votes to 16,

The school improvements were passed as part of the Vale of Glamorgan Council’s capital investments strategy.

It was passed with another Labour amendment to exclude mention of the Vale’s draft parking strategy – which could introduce car parking charges to towns in the county for the first time.

An additional Welsh Government grant of £1.9m will be paid to the council in February – which will be carried into the next financial year through reserves.

The council is yet to decide what to do with this extra capital funding – but said the draft parking strategy could be “one of the potential uses” of that money.

But mention of the parking strategy has now been removed from the capital plans.

The meeting heard the parking strategy will be considered by the cabinet on Monday, March 18.