A school building programme worth £300 million over the next decade - which includes the buillding of a new all-through school in Machynlleth – has been agreed by senior Powys councillors, but questions remain over where the money will come from to finance the later years of the programme.

Of the £300 million the council would need to stump up just over £100 million, just under £200 million would come from the Welsh Government and £1.8 million from church funding.

Powys County Council’s cabinet gave the go ahead at its meeting on 7 May to submit a new Strategic Outline Programme (SOP) to the Welsh Government’s Sustainable Communities for Learning’s nine-year rolling programme.

The Welsh Government has asked local authorities to submit their proposal, with councils now needing to outline a “rolling programme” of proposals for up to nine years.

The first three years up to 2027 will be made up of projects expected to reach a “full business case”, and in Powys’ case that includes the delayed new £49m school campus in Machynlleth for which planning was finally submitted earlier this year.

The council’s contribution is estimated to be just over £35 million out of a total estimated cost of £109 million for the first three years.

Education portfolio holder, Liberal Democrat Cllr Pete Roberts said: “This is the first strategic document that we have brought forward that looks at the planned structure of our schools to take into the future.

“It indicates a number of sites where proposals are coming forward now that will require the statutory consultation process in relation to the school’s organisation code as part of moving forward.”

The school building programme was scrutinised last month at the Learning and Skills committee.

The committee chairman, Cllr Gwynfor Thomas welcomed the “aspiration” but had some concerns.

Cllr Thomas said: “We are enthusiastic but we’re not quite clear on where we’re going.

“The commitment that’s there is for the first three years of the programme.”

He said that the committee had asked where the “resources” for years four and onwards of the programme would come from.

Director of corporate services, Jane Thomas stressed that any future school building projects would need to be “affordable, prudent and sustainable.”

Ms Thomas said: “The commitment is there but in terms of financing the individual projects as we move through this programme, that will be considered at later stages of the business case.”