MP Calls on Plaid Welsh Government to Honour £27 Million Commitment for Ysgol Heol Goffa

Dame Nia Griffith, the Labour MP for Llanelli, has written to Anna Brychan MS, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Welsh Language in the new Plaid Cymru-led Welsh Government, urging her to give early and full support to the long-campaigned-for new school for Ysgol Heol Goffa.

The MP is calling on the Welsh Government to honour the 27 million pound commitment made by the previous Labour administration and to confirm match-funding of 75 per cent for the project. The former Education Minister, Labour’s Lynn Neagle, had confirmed the planned school would be eligible for the higher rate of 75 per cent funding, compared to the standard 65 per cent, subject to a satisfactory business case being submitted.

Dame Nia described the delays and setbacks that have surrounded the 35 million pound project as causing huge consternation and anxiety to current pupils and parents, and those waiting for a place at the school. She is backed in her call by school campaigners and Llanelli Labour county and town councillors, who are demanding a clear and categorical answer from the Plaid Welsh Government on whether it will meet the 75 per cent figure in full.

Contradictory Statements on Ring-Fenced Funding

The call comes days after a tense exchange at a full meeting of Carmarthenshire County Council, in which the Plaid cabinet member for education, Councillor Glynog Davies, was pressed by Labour county group leader Councillor Deryk Cundy on whether the council’s 25 per cent share of the project, approximately nine million pounds, had been ring-fenced.

Councillor Davies replied that it had not been, adding the qualification: not yet.

The answer directly contradicts a statement Davies made at a full council meeting in December last year, when he told members: the money has been ring-fenced.

Councillor Cundy was unsparing in his assessment of the discrepancy.

“Which version of Glynog Davies’s answers are we, and the school community, to believe? Councillor Davies had skirted the issue of whether the current Plaid-led Welsh Government had put aside the 27 million pounds for the much-needed 150-pupil capacity new school near Ysgol Penrhos in Llanelli.”

Councillor Davies said the funding depended on a business case which had yet to be carried out. Campaigners who fought the successful campaign against what they described as Plaid’s broken promise to build a new school said publicly after the meeting that they feared there could be a 35 million pound black hole in the latest Plaid-led county council budget for Ysgol Heol Goffa.

‘A Constant State of Outrage’: Davies Hits Back

Councillor Davies, who was cabinet member for education when Carmarthenshire County Council scrapped the original plans for a new school in May 2024, rejected his critics’ characterisation of events. He took aim at Lliedi Labour town councillor Shaun Greaney, accusing him of maintaining a constant state of outrage, and claimed the council was moving ahead with a larger new school. He said Llanelli Labour had caused unnecessary distress.

Councillor Greaney did not accept the framing.

“It is disgraceful that Councillor Glynog Davies should now be making out that he is the hero of the school and has been wronged by our criticism. More than 9,000 people signed a protest petition for a new school sparked by Plaid’s broken promises. They know the truth. For Councillor Davies to take umbrage when we reveal the money has not been set aside and protected for the school, an indisputable fact, reeks of political desperation. Plaid are trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes and do not like it that they have been caught out. Llanelli Labour will continue to fight tooth and nail for the new school to be built as soon as possible for the long-suffering parents, children and staff of Ysgol Heol Goffa.”

‘Dragging Its Heels’: Questions Over the Timeline

Councillor Cundy pressed further on the question of why the process had stalled, pointing to an independent report commissioned by the council itself which concluded that the school had to be expanded to meet legal requirements.

“Seeing as Councillor Davies assured us in December that the project was ring-fenced, why is it going to take 15 months to build a business case? They had all the information last year from an independent report they commissioned that to meet legal requirements the school had to be expanded. All we are doing as Labour councillors is being the voice of the vulnerable and we will not be silenced.”

Plaid Cymru is dragging its heels, Cundy added.

Ysgol Heol Goffa is Llanelli’s additional learning needs school. The campaign for a new, purpose-built facility for its pupils has been one of the most sustained and emotionally charged in recent Carmarthenshire political history, drawing thousands of signatures and placing the school at the top of the local education agenda for several years. The question of whether the funding is truly in place, and whether the new Plaid-led Welsh Government will honour the commitment made by its predecessor, is one that the school community is now looking to Cardiff Bay to answer.

Carmarthenshire News Online has approached Carmarthenshire County Council, Councillor Glynog Davies and Anna Brychan MS for comment. Responses will be published when received.

Carmarthenshire News Online, Independent News for Sir Gaerfyrddin | carmarthenshirenewsonline.com