An escalating row over a public footpath is causing unnecessary delays to plans to build a new Welsh-medium school in Welshpool, a councillor says.

Liberal Democrat town councillor Richard Church has called for an end to the dispute which has halted work on Ysgol Gymraeg y Trallwng, and which Powys County Council(PCC) says could pose a "significant risk" to the funding of the project if delays continue.

The issue centres on a largely redundant footpath which ran from Maesydre fields to Severn Farm Pond, which was blocked off by the building of the Welshpool bypass in 1992.

Construction of the school would involve the official "stopping up" of the pathway before the Maesydre school site, which would raise an objection from conservation body the Open Spaces Society(OSS) and also cause a delay to the project.

While a compromise measure of re-routing of the path has been agreed by the County Council and the OSS, an objection was raised at a planning meeting on July 1 by Welshpool town councillor Phil Pritchard.

The objection is concerned with child safety issues raised by the nature of the proposed new route, which is believed to run through the area earmarked for the new school car park.

"Pupils, parents and staff at the Welsh Medium Primary School have waited too long already for their new school," said Cllr Richard Church.

"We must not allow a dispute over a redundant public footpath to get in the way of ensuring our young people get their education in the up-to-date modern school that they have been promised.

"This problem should have been sorted out months ago. We have a footpath that ends in a dead end at the bypass, and if the path is re-routed, we will continue to have a footpath that ends in a dead end at the bypass."

"We have plenty of excellent well-used paths in the area which we should care about. This is not one of them, and it’s time to put local children first."

At a meeting of Powys Council's planning, taxi licensing and rights of way committee on Thursday, July 1, Cllr Phil Pritchard said a better diversion that would leave the school “self-contained” should be considered, and put forward a motion that the proposal be deferred to allow him to speak to staff and come up with a better alternative.

Further discussions are due to take place next week in an effort to resolve the issue.

Speaking at the meeting, PCC countryside access and recreation officer Sian Barnes said the proposed route was the result of attempted negotiations with the OSS.

"There have already been significant delays to this programme, this is what the school service want to put forward as their final proposal having tried to negotiate with the objector," she said.

"I appreciate it may seem an oddity that a single objector can have that much weight, but in the public path order process they can. A single objector can completely stall the process."