STOP SCHOOL PLANS NOW

28 June 2005

Last week I attended a meeting at Grange Primary School where councillors presented their plans to site the new 420-pupil Welsh-medium school on West Cross Lane. There was strong opposition to the proposal, and at no point did the councillors explain how road chaos would be avoided, or why it was acceptable to destroy a green area and encroach on the Grange site, reducing its capacity on the playing field by over 60 per cent.

These issues are self-evident and were well known in advance, yet strangely not one of them featured as disadvantages of the proposal in the woefully inadequate "consultation paper".

To add to my concerns, the meeting highlighted the unnecessary costs of this proposal. By choosing the busy West Cross Lane, it was stated that considerable remedial action to the road would be essential and the costs of this would be high.

This is without considering the costs of altering side roads to accommodate rat-run traffic.On top of this, the decision to go for a new build on a costly site must be seriously questioned when it is apparent that falling pupil numbers (combined with the 420 places taken in the new school) will likely result in a school closure in the near future.S

urely another option, on an easier site or existing building, is available. Yet no other option is currently under consultation.

I cannot understand how the West Cross Lane site is a viable option when the disadvantages have not been seriously addressed. There are health risks and children will be discouraged from walking to school.

This proposal should be stopped now, and a site for Llwynderw decided upon within the framework of an overall review of schools in the area.

Mike Gravenor, Moorside Road, West Cross, Swansea