TWO Torfaen schools set to close in 2017 will now stay open for a further year after delays in the plans from a judicial review and discussions with the coal authority.

Abersychan Brynteg Nursery and Victoria Primary schools were marked for closure in September next year, after Torfaen’s cabinet agreed to close them in July.

However, a campaign launched to fight the schools closing, which involved a judicial review, has caused a delay to the plans.

On Tuesday morning, the cabinet agreed to postpone to plans for one year, giving the authority an extra year to make the changes at the school.

As part of the proposals of the 21st Century Schools programme, Cwmffrwdoer and Garnteg primary schools will take on displaced pupils from the Abersychan schools.

The coal authority held discussions with the council over ground work engineering, as the school site sits on a former mining area.

Dermot McChrystal, Torfaen’s head of education service, said that following the end of the review and coal authority discussions, the delays forced the authority to alter its original timetable.

“That has put excessive pressure on the timetable,” he said, referring to the coal authority discussions and judicial review.

Mr McChrystal added that in lieu of the changes, the possible effect on the pupils was one of the major considerations in the timetable change.

“Clearly one of the things as a council that we are focused on is making sure that learners aren’t disadvantaged in any way that we can avoid,” he added, mentioning possible unnecessary risks in rushing the projects for September 2017 would be detrimental to the whole project.

“Although it is inconvenient in the grand scheme of things, inconvenience matters very little when weighed in the balance of safety of kids and other users of this site,” said Cllr David Yeowell, the executive member for education.