SALE OF SCHOOL'S SITE MAY BRING IN £8.7M

6 June 2005

Selling off a Swansea school site may net the council close to £9 million, it has emerged. That is how much council bosses believe could be made from selling the Dylan Thomas school site at Cockett.

They plan to transfer pupils to Bishop Gore comprehensive in 2007 and invest £7 million in redeveloping it - leaving them with a profit of £1.7 million from the deal.

It has led to claims the authority is putting cash before kids.

The move has caused uproar among staff and parents, but the Liberal Democrat-led cabinet insists it is necessary because of falling student numbers.

Council leader Chris Holley has dismissed claims the authority is putting cash before kids and says the £1.7 million profit from the sale of Dylan Thomas school could be ploughed back into education in the city.

The proposal is due to go before the cabinet on Thursday and be followed by a six-week public consultation.Angry parents will be at Thursday's meeting and have already said they will oppose the plans. It means the decision is likely to go the Assembly.

Opponents of the closure believe it is already a done deal, and have accused the council of putting profit ahead of education.Labour leader David Phillips said any decision to close schools in Swansea should be for educational reasons only, and questioned the Lib Dem's motives.

He said: "It does seem to me that the administration is reducing education to a commodity that we can buy and sell.

"Although during our administration we did close schools it wasn't so we could sell them off.

"For the current administration to have calculated the value of the land before there is planning permission or even if it can be sold because of the covenant seems remarkably premature."

He has called for other options to be looked at before any decision is made.

The current proposals mean pupils from Dylan Thomas will transfer to Bishop Gore School in September 2007. This will require extensive redevelopment, but the Lib Dems believe they will be able to recoup millions of pounds from the sale of the Dylan Thomas site to a developer, which was given to the city in 1877 as part of a charitable donation.

A report to the cabinet says: "The likely capital expenditure required at the Bishop Gore site is estimated at £7 million. This figure is on the basis of likely need and is subject to extensive scrutiny once the proposals are announced.

"The existing Dylan Thomas site and premises will become available for appropriate alternative use or future disposal to generate additional capital investment.

"The potential value of the existing site, which is not subject to a restrictive covenant, has been assessed at around £8.7 million," the report adds.

The proposed closure will also see annual savings of £397,000.Council leader Chris Holley said that most of the money raised in the closure would go on education in the city and insisted the closure was in the best interests of pupils.

He added: "The option we're putting forward is the option that makes the best sense educationally.