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Denbighshire's Cabinet has agreed a recommendation to close Hyfrydle, a 52 week residential facility for pupils attending Ysgol Plas Brondyffryn, Denbigh, a specialist school working with young people with Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

The home opened on November 5, 2007 as a local authority provision. The Home is registered for 6 children with the potential of rising to 11. Currently two placements have been taken up.

The need for the home was identified at a time when there were very few specialist care and education packages for students on the autistic spectrum. The situation has changed with the arrival of two independent providers in the past year.

In February 2008, Cabinet decided to establish a group to develop a financially viable option for making the best use of the provision for vulnerable children and young people with complex and/or multiple special needs.  Extensive research has been carried out across Wales which has indicated there is over capacity of 52 week provision for autistic spectrum disorder in Wales and there are therefore unlikely to be enough ASD children and young people requiring full time residential places.  Hyfrydle is not financially viable and the research suggests that this position will not change.

Councillor Hugh Evans, Leader of Denbighshire and Cabinet Lead Member for Lifelong Learning, said: '"This is not a decision that has been taken lightly. We are aware there are strong feelings against the closure, but we can assure people that we have considered all the options extremely carefully and the only realistic option available was to close the facility.

"The Council is in contact with the families of the two placements currently at Hyfrydle and has given assurances that officers will be working hard to secure alternative placements and will provide as much support as possible. Staff affected by the closure are also being informed and over the next 12 weeks we will be looking to redeploy as many of the staff as possible and negotiating with the trade unions regarding any redundancy packages. ”