Former school could be sold off

A former special school could be sold after being declared surplus to requirements four years after it closed. 

Mounton House Special School in Pwllmeyric near Chepstow was built in the 1950s but closed in August 2020, as part of Monmouthshire County Council’s additional learning needs review. 

The authority’s Labour-led cabinet has agreed the building should be declared surplus to requirements as the education service no longer has any use for it and will be marketed by the landlord services department from January. 

A spokesman for the council confirmed disposal could either be through sale or lease but the intention is to sell the 11.4 acres of surplus land and the building, which the cabinet was told is in a poor state of repair. 

Councillor Martyn Groucutt, the cabinet member for education, said: “I spent many happy hours there as a young education officer in Gwent.” 

Two staff houses are being refurbished for use as the southern base for the pupil referral unit, for children who aren’t attending mainstream schools, and is expected to be completed in February when pupils will transfer from Hanbury House in Chepstow. 

The council will retain access rights for the referral unit and at present there is planning permission for a non-residential institution and any alternative use would require change of use planning permission. 

The site is within the Wye Valley National Landscape area of outstanding beauty, with a “very small part” of the grounds within a historic park and gardens.