Plans to nearly double pupil numbers at a Gwendraeth Valley primary school are moving forward.

Gorslas primary had 122 pupils as of January last year, despite a capacity of 110.

Staff are expected to welcome 210 youngsters when a new school building opens at adjacent Gorslas Park, potentially in September next year.

Council chiefs said the existing 1920s school has been over-capacity for years, with two mobile classrooms added since 2015.

The village has a population of around 4,300 — 218 of whom are children living within the primary school’s catchment area. But 140 of those children attend other schools.

The proposal to ramp up pupil numbers and add 30 nursery places will be discussed on May 14 by Carmarthenshire’s education and children scrutiny committee, which will be asked to recommend its implementation to the executive board.

Committee members will also look at proposals to increase the pupil age range at Ysgol Parc y Tywyn, Burry Port, from 4 to 11 to 3 to 11.

A number of groups have been consulted on the Gorslas pupil proposal including Wales’s education body Estyn, which judged the school’s performance in 2014 as adequate.

Estyn said the proposal — one of four options considered — had a number of advantages but that, in its view, had not considered robustly enough the effect on other schools in the catchment area.

Concerns were raised elsewhere about the loss of green space at Gorslas Park when the new school is built, subject to planning consent.

The council said only part of the park would be used, that a multi-use games area would be built for community and school use, and that the existing school could be turned into a community facility if local residents put forward a strong enough case.

Education chiefs also conceded that children in the area who attended other schools may want to switch to the new primary.

A report going before the committee said: “As is the case with all community primary schools within the county, admission to the school will be controlled and managed through the admissions process should this situation occur.”

Pupils at Gorslas primary were also asked for their views at a session last December, and the feedback was positive.

Youngsters were excited by the prospect of better sports facilities, up-to-date classrooms and more space for after-school clubs.

“The only negative comments were about feeling sad when leaving the old building and moving to a new building and year 5 and 6 pupils were sad in losing the opportunity to be educated at the new school because of their age,” said the report.