Primary Schools Under Threat

According to the WyeLocal this month, a major shake up of primary school education is planned in the Hay area. The County Council's "Modernisation Programme" seems to be to provide no primary education at all in a broad swathe between Hay and Brecon that is now served by four primary schools!
Years ago, I used to help out at Followers, which was a Tuesday afternoon version of Sunday School for the children of Llanigon School. Llanigon is a lovely school, and they seem to be providing an excellent education for the local children - but that doesn't seem to matter. Llanigon is due to close.
When I was unemployed, I went for a job in the Nursery of Glasbury School. Again, it's a lovely school. The teachers spend as much time as they can with the children out of doors, having lessons in the nearby woods or moorland. You can't put a price on experiences like that. Glasbury is due to close.
I have a friend who has children at Ffynnon Gynydd School. It's a very small school, but with a very enthusiastic and committed group of teachers and parents. They're often featured in the B&R doing something interesting. But none of that matters. Ffynnon Gynydd is due to close.
The only school I don't know about personally is Rhosgoch, but I'm betting that it's a lovely school, providing a good education for the local children. Rhosgoch is the other school which is due to close.
This may make some sort of sense on the balance sheet, but in real life it's a disaster for those communities and those families. Small children will have to be bussed in to distant primary schools, or driven in by their families, at a time of increasing petrol prices. Families with young children will either move away or decide they don't want to come and live in those villages, and another community will wither away.
Understandably, there is a protest group. It's called PEGG - Primary Education for Glasbury and Gwernyfed - and they want at least one school in the Gwernyfed/Glasbury area to be retained. There are, after all, a lot of families who live in Gwernyfed, Three Cocks and Glasbury. One possibility being considered is for a primary school to share the site of Gwernyfed High School, though I understand that one of the landowners who has to be consulted on such changes isn't keen on the idea.
Llanigon is only a mile or so outside Hay, so a case could be made to merge those two schools, though Llanigon has little enough in the way of community resources as it is. Taking away the school will leave the church and the village hall, and that's about it.
In the opinion of PEGG, decisions made by the County Council now will decide the schooling available to this area's children for the next 25 years, so it's vital to get it right, and for the benefit of the children and families who live here above all other considerations.
PEGG can be contacted at: Pat Bevan (Secretary) 01497 847653 or patbevan78@gmail.com, or Andrew Jones (Chair) on 10497 847931 or pegg2011@yahoo.co.uk