Thursday 20 September 2012

Minister decides that Pantycelyn school will close


Leighton Andrews, the Welsh Minister for Education has now approved the council's plans to close Pantycelyn secondary school, Llandovery. All objections have been swept aside. This is a sad day for the school and the town and one can only hope that the planning process for the new superschool in Ffairfach is not as riddled with as many flaws and misinformation from the council that the school re-organisation process was.
The approval is subject to the Council granting themselves planning permission by the end of March 2013.

There are many posts on this blog concerning this saga if you wish to search for background, and no doubt a gleeful press release will soon appear on the council website.
Maybe our local members Cllr Ivor Jackson and Tom Theophilus will get a special tribute from senior officers for turning their backs on the population of north Carmarthenshire.

Funnily enough the proposed site for the Llandeilo Sainsbury's (currently in the spotlight) was once deemed entirely inappropriate by the Council for the location of the new school (after it had been considered highly appropriate by the council's expensively commissioned consultants), for the reasons, see Sainsbury's, Llandeilo and the new school site.

Lastly, here's a spoof prediction for 2011 from the Western Mail;

"Eyebrows are raised when Education Minister Leighton Andrews announces plans for all schools in Wales to merge.
Describing those opposed to the move – which would see all headteachers but one sacked – as “entrenched in old-fashioned thinking,” Mr Andrews proposes siting the new 15-mile-by-20-mile super-school in Mid Wales “as I’ve looked at a map, and there’s not much there”.

Update 21st September;
As predicted above the obligatory press release appeared on the council website today titled 'Great news for  Dinefwr' as both Kevin Madge and Robert Sully, the Director of Education expressed their pleasure and delight at the ministers decision. Somehow the Council managed to hold back from the usual reference to a 'small group of misinformed troublemakers' or even 'we've beaten the b*****ds'.
As for the good folk of Llandovery, they are fighting back and over 300 have signed up to the residents Association - I don't think the council have heard the last of this.

1 comment:

LATRA Llandovery area Tenants and Residents Asssociation said...

LATRA

Imperative that all parents of children at Pantycelyn attend the Parents/Governors meeting next Wednesday 26th at 6pm at the school. Obviously a most inconvenient time and the text messages everyone's been sent to put them off going is just another way to stop anyone rocking the boat. THIS IS NOT OVER YET! They will not be expecting everyone to turn up and they will count people as they come in. At least 80 people needed - let's double that! There are resolutions to be put forward THAT NEED YOUR VOTE!