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CHANGES have been made to a key document recommending the closure of a Carmarthenshire school after concerns were raised by councillors.
Ysgol Bancffosfelen, near Pontyberem, is one of four primary schools with low pupil numbers, high surplus places and financial deficits which have been put forward for potential closure at the end of December 2027 by the Plaid-Independent council.
Members of a council scrutiny committee discussed the proposals for the four schools at a meeting on October 13 and expressed misgivings about some of the information in the Ysgol Bancffosfelen consultation document relating to finances, building issues and school leadership.
Education officers have therefore made changes to it, and the changes were accepted by a majority of the education, young people and Welsh language scrutiny committee at a special meeting on October 23.
Cllr Liam Bowen pressed education chiefs about the published capacity of Ysgol Bancffosfelen being stated as 98 when the document said at the same time it was currently 86 because part of the school building has been taken out of use.
Allan Carter, Carmarthenshire’s schools transformation and change manager, said the published capacity would reduce to 86 next year. “We have acknowledged in the report that future capacity will come down,” he said.
Cllr Bowen, whose ward includes Ysgol Bancffosfelen, said having the 98 figure in the consultation document skewed the percentage of surplus places. “It’s factually incorrect, isn’t it – you know that, we know that, the school know that, that it will change,” he said.
Director of education Owain Lloyd said the consultation document had to be published at a point in time and that it was incorrect to say it contained factual inaccuracies.
Cllr Bowen then asked about a commitment he said had been made by the council to demolish part of the school building, drawing a rebuke from committee chairman Cllr Peter Hughes-Griffiths who said he felt Cllr Bowen was “going after other things in these questions”.
The meeting also heard a forthcoming Estyn report on Ysgol Bancffosfelen would be made public and considered before any final decisions were taken.
Committee members were told additional space would be created in Ysgol Pontyberem – the school where Ysgol Bancffosfelen pupils would go if it closed – subject to Welsh Government funding. The consultation document said: “The local authority currently plan to progress with this expansion in accommodation whether the proposal to close Ysgol Bancffosfelen is implemented or not.”
Cabinet is due to take the next in a series of decisions about Ysgol Bancffosfelen and the three other schools facing potential closure – Ysgol Blaenau, Ysgol Carwe and Ysgol Pontiets – in a meeting next month.
Cllr Jean Lewis said she sympathised with Cllr Bowen as he was representing Ysgol Bancffosfelen constituents who were asking him questions, and that answers to questions would enable him to “go back confidently to say: ‘Look, this is what has happened.’” Cllr Peter Hughes-Griffiths said he accepted her point but said the previous meeting on October 13 had been the opportunity to discuss the consultation document in full.
