Saturday 6 April 2013

A stab in the back for Llandovery


A week last Thursday, planning permission was granted for the new 'superschool' in Ffairfach, Llandeilo...in fact nets were being thrown over the hedges the day before the meeting presumably to prevent birds nesting, prior to removing the hedges...Anyway, the significance of this proposal to the people in the Llandovery and surrounding rural area was always the closure of the secondary school, Ysgol Pantycelyn, and a lengthy hard fought battle by local residents, parents, children etc including a Judicial Review, was eventually lost.

For reasons best known to themselves both the Councillor representing the town and the Councillor representing most of the catchment area, (both members of the Independent Party), remained silent throughout the closure process. In the face of such mass local opposition, I found their inaction incomprehensible, this was the single most important community asset the town had.

By December 2011, after the whole process had largely been rubber stamped, they both spoke out about their objections to the 'preferred' location in Ffairfach, 13 miles away in the press, saying "we've all been against this from the word go". They excused their previous silence by saying they were concerned that if they did say anything, it would compromise their position on the planning committee whenever the application came before them. However, many local people felt that there had been nothing whatsoever stopping them speaking out against the closure of Pantycelyn.

Move forward to last week's Planning Committee meeting and a last ditch attempt by the town's mayor to highlight the unsuitability of the location was to no avail. The application was passed, only three voting against. The Mayor must have hoped, at the very least, and particularly after their comments, that the two local Members would have supported her, but unfortunately they were not even amongst the three, as one of them had apparently decided to go on holiday and the other abstained.

Here's a press release from LATRA, the Llandovery Area Tenants and Residents Association which currently has over 300 members;

A stab in the back for Llandovery 

Carmarthenshire County Council decided to close Ysgol Pantycelyn despite furious and almost unanimous protests from the people of Llandovery and surrounding areas.    
Carmarthenshire Council then decided to rub salt in the wound by recommending that the new school should be sited 13 miles away on the other side of Llandeilo.  For some children east of Llandovery, it meant return journeys of over 45 miles a day and up to 3 hours a day travelling.  
The planning application for the new school was heard by the Carmarthenshire Planning Committee on March 28 and despite almost 100% opposition from the Llandovery area, and a valiant effort from the Mayor of Llandovery on the day, the application was approved.    
What is the point of public consultation? How can Council leader Kevin Madge describe this decision as ‘a significant investment in education in the Dinefwr area’ when it means the destruction of an excellent school and leaves 400 square miles of West Wales without a senior school? Added to this, the decision to charge children from their 16th birthdays for their school travel costs will place an intolerable extra burden on the families of this beleaguered town. 
Where do our two local county councillors stand in this debacle?  We know that they supported the decision to close Pantycelyn which, in itself, was a bitter pill to swallow – but we felt sure they would fight tooth and nail to have the new school built within easier reach of the children and parents of Llandovery.    
The planning meeting on March 28 was, therefore, an incredibly important meeting for them - and all the people they represent.  
The reality?  Cllr Tom Theophilus (Cilycwm) decided to abstain from the vote.  Cllr Ivor Jackson (Llandovery) decided to go away on holiday 24 hours before the vote and did not attend. We cannot think of a worse example of a betrayal to the electorate on such a desperately important issue. Letters will be sent to both these local county councillors asking them to explain themselves.  
Maybe they should both resign and stand again with an honest campaign so that electors can have a chance to show how many still support them.  Nothing is surer than if electors had known about this last May the election results would have been very different.   
The Mayor is quite right when she claims the local authority had not adhered to statutory policies with regard to the new ‘superschool’. Forget the health and wellbeing of the children; turn a blind eye to carbon footprints and the Welsh Governments policies for sustainable local development; ignore the financial hardship for hundreds of parents; forget the fact that the chosen site is on a notorious floodplain.  In fact just do whatever you want to do and hang the consequences.  
The people of Llandovery will not forgive or forget the damage that has been inflicted on them.  Well done to all who fought so valiantly – and shame on our county councillors.  
Chair:  Llandovery Area Tenants and Residents Association (LATRA)

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

'Par for the course', as far as this council goes. They always do as they choose. If anyone still believes there's a democracy they ae living on another planet.

caebrwyn said...

Anon 8.04
As you say, 'par for the course'. In 2008 during a 'debate' on the closure of village schools Cllr Meryl Gravell, Independent leader of the council said (my italics): "Some Members exhibit extreme weakness and are prepared to listen to people protesting against school closures in the public gallery and out there in the community."
Says a lot. And she certainly wasn't referring to the Members from this neck of the woods.

As an aside, after the usual application of spin, the Minutes of the meeting record that;
"An observation was made that when Council embarked upon the MEP [Modernising Education Programme], it had faced considerable opposition from various quarters and tribute was paid to the members and officers involved in developing the programme"

Anonymous said...

Why has my comment not been put up? You're just proving that this blog is a sham!

Anonymous said...

This article says a lot too!

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2010/02/06/council-leader-s-call-to-legalise-heroin-in-branded-dangerous-by-drugs-adviser-91466-25773521/

caebrwyn said...

anon 14.53
I believe I have published all comments that have been sent for this post - perhaps you'd like to re-send it and I will decide if it is suitable. If it is not, I will explain why.
Do you have any particular reason to remain anonymous?

Anonymous said...

To annonymous @ 14.53 Technology can make mistakes and as Jaqui said resubmit it as I have often done.Your criticism on this blog negates your argument that she is selective on what she comments.If it is a sham she would not have approved your criticism.I have followed Jaqui's blog from the start and anyone who has done so will soon recognise her fair mindedness.

Rosie said...

Which 3 cllrs voted against? Llandovery still rocking over the cowardice of Ivor Jackson and Tom Theophilus - I wonder if we peasants will still doff the forelock as they mosey around town! Unlikely! Nice to know that their status within the local authority is so much more important than any loyalty to the people they are supposed to represent. What a disgrace!

caebrwyn said...

@Rosie
I don't know who voted against, the vote wasn't recorded. Maybe someone knows?
Cllr Theophilus did want it 'put on the record' though that he'd abstained, clearly he felt this was something to be proud of.

Rosie said...

What planet are these cllrs on? I wonder how proud he will be to see the children in his village wearily disembarking after their long,cold winter journeys - assuming their parents can afford to pay to get them on the coaches in the first place. Good job neither of the local cllrs have children of their own to suffer it. What a legacy they'll leave when they eventually feel the need to retire in comfort.

Anonymous said...

Good comment Rosie.Pupils are encouraged to stay at school for more qualifications while councils such as ccc are actually going to prevent this happening.I would be very concerned as a parent in these circumstances.I live in Swansea but have every sympathy for the parents who would be involved.

Llewelyn said...

I would like to know where the money is going. Considering the strength of local opposition, I can only speculate that someone or some group on the council stands to gain in some way from building the new school. After all, building QE high in Carmarthen was reported to cost £30M some years back, the new school in Ffairfach is not going to be less. How much of that money goes where?

The whole public consultation has been a sham, really, as far as I've seen - I strongly suspect the decision was already made, and the consultation exercise was simply to allow the council to state that such an exercise had taken place.

There is another possibility: the council in its lack of wisdom has for years been operating a campaign to close all the small primary schools in rural villages. Now, if you do that, you need more space in the town primary schools for those children... and guess where there's a nice big school building that will be empty in a few years.