Campaigners rallied outside County Hall in Carmarthen on Wednesday ahead of a Council meeting to debate a petition that was presented to the Council with an accumulated total of nearly 5,000 signatures.
This is a massive achievement for the Heol Goffa community who have been campaigning since May for the Council to take action on their decision to axe the new school plans.
Campaigner Aimee Evans who presented the petition to the Council spoke at the meeting on behalf of the community to voice the many concerns and fundamental issues that the community have faced over the years.
Aimee said that Heol Goffa is currently bursting at the seams with a waiting list of 17 pupils, though there is speculation that this number is incorrect.
Aimee highlighted the dilapidation of the existing building in stark detail; That some classrooms have no flooring and parts of the building are inaccessible to children in wheelchairs. Aimee contrasted this with the number of 21st century mainstream schools being built across the county and questioned the council’s priorities.
‘This is not good enough’
Aimee said that the Council’s decision to axe the new school plans for Heol Goffa has placed the most vulnerable students in an environment where they may struggle to cope due to overcrowding and inaccessibility, which will create an environment of increased frustration and a sense of failure which is simply ‘not good enough.’ She questioned why the decision has not been considered as discrimination against children with additional learning needs.
“For many students including my own, the school is the only place where they feel truly understood and accepted,” Aimee told the chamber.
“The Council should be prioritising the mental health of the students and not damaging it by feelings of disappointment, abandonment by breaking promises.”
She contrasted the level of prioritisation that other counties uphold for ALN children and questioned why Carmarthenshire County Council won’t show the same level of dedication to providing the children with even the most basic level of support and security. When Aimee concluded her speech in the chamber, she was met with resounding applause from the gallery where campaigners from the Heol Goffa community watched the meeting closely.
Cllr Rob James comments
Councillor Rob James said that the campaign to get a new 21st century ALN school for Carmarthenshire has won its first victories.
Just a brief look at the situation. Seven years in the making – how long does it really take to plan a new school? Of course, the architect, county and school had input to fine tune plans and, of course, Covid has perhaps added another two years to the process, but seven years? When exactly did the county get “cold feet” about the project and stretch the time between planning meetings to delay matters?
What happened to the original source of funding for the project? Did the council not realise that, as time went on, there would be inflation? Why wasn’t this money invested and grown. It should be no shock discovery to find that things cost more today than they did seven years ago, yet the council are panicking at the thought of spending that which they now haven’t got.
An independent review sounds great, we all get together and agree terms of reference and a respected and highly qualified person listens to everything and delivers a verdict. If that verdict is the need for a new school that’s another eighteen months or so wasted in talking about it and doing nothing. You can bet that in that time the council will have done very little to accumulate funding for the outcome of the review. Independent reviews are a classic way of giving breathing space and seeming to be concerned. We set up the review. We give evidence. The reviewer has time to consider it and he writes his report. This is debated in county and among the public and, eventually, people are so tired and fed up with it all that it becomes yesterday’s news.
Dare I suggest that part of the excuse for not building the new school is that it does not fit in with the thoughts and ideology of those in power. Councillor Dole is an enlightened gentleman who understood the value of a superb special school as part of the Delta Lakes project. What a way to provide a really comprehensive community hub, where Ysgol Heol Goffa would not only be the centre of excellence it already is but it could spread its expertise and be part of the complete picture at Delta Lakes. Financial concern is a very good way to hide these aims and cloud issues.
This review, is also a possible way to close the school altogether. To date the council has said that there are no plans to close the school, and the only decision is not to build a new one. That is not the same as telling the school that it is supported and will not close. There will always be that anxiety that the council will decide Ysgol Heol Goffa is not part of the county’s ALN plan. This scenario becomes more likely when the county discovers that even with sticking plasters, the building is unsalvageable and would cost more than it’s worth to adapt. No new school to move to, so – oh dear – we have to close it.
The new school tendering process is confidential for commercial reasons. How much effort has the county made to:
a) renegotiate the tender?
b) approach the Welsh government to help out?
c) Explore ways to raise funds in other ways -lottery grants, private money, part ownership?
My guess is that none of this has happened or they would have told us how hard they were trying to keep a promise made to the school seven years ago. It’s all very negative.
Finally, no one seems to have looked over their shoulders at other counties, where new schools are being built and state-of-the-art facilities already exist, and to ask why they are doing that and we can’t be bothered. Let’s stick a few porta-cabins around the patch and lose our ALN pupils. No one really cares do they?
Discover more from Carmarthenshire News Online
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
