HUNDREDS SIGN UP TO FIGHT SCHOOL PLAN

South Wales Evening Post - 5 April 2006

Hundreds of West Cross residents have signed a petition against proposals for a new school in the area. Swansea Council bosses want to open a new Welsh primary at West Cross Children's Home in West Cross Avenue.

But people living near the site say a new school would create traffic chaos for residents.Last month they took to their cars during school pick-up time to show how the extra traffic would jam up roads in the area.

They have now handed over a 525-name petition to Swansea Council ahead of a planning meeting to decide whether to grant permission to build the new school.

Residents' spokesman Richard Clarke said: "Everyone is appalled at this hugely damaging development which the council hopes to steamroll through the planning committee next week.

"For the past three years the school has been based at Bishop Gore comprehensive in Sketty. If planning permission is granted, it would open on the West Cross site in 2008.

Campaigners collected the signatures in just three days and say the response shows how strongly people feel about the proposals.

"The weight of objection against this absurd proposal is almost 100 per cent," said Mr Clarke.

"The council has applied the same consultation rules to this multi-million pound development as to a minor house extension. Their whole attitude shows flagrant disregard of the views and concerns of local residents.

"We are not against a Welsh school but a suitable site should be found which provides for their needs without destroying a whole neighbourhood."

Swansea Council's education director, Richard Parry, insists that fears over traffic have been addressed.

"We listened very carefully to concerns raised about the current problems for the schools in the area," he said.

"A lot of effort has gone into ensuring the new school will fit well into its community," he added.

"The proposed traffic management system is designed to make life easier on the school run, whichever school the pupils go to."

NEW TALKS ON SHAKE-UP OF CITY SCHOOLS

South Wales Evening Post - 4 April 2006

Education bosses will begin talks with head teachers next month over the proposed shake-up of schools in Swansea. Council officers have been reviewing their plans after a controversial scheme to merge Bishop Gore and Dylan Thomas comprehensive schools was dropped.

The authority wants to introduce a massive change to the school system as a way of dealing with surplus places.

Education chiefs claim the extra spaces are a waste of money and resources.

The initial plan had been to close Dylan Thomas and transfer pupils to the Bishop Gore site, spending millions on the school to accommodate the extra numbers.

But the idea was shelved at the end of last year after it was deemed too disruptive to pupils' education.

It had faced massive opposition from parents, teachers and children from the two schools, who feared it would have serious repercussions on their lessons.

But despite the U-turn, Councillor Mike Day, the cabinet member for education, has insisted there is still a problem with falling pupil numbers - a problem that is leaving desks empty across the county.

"We have been reviewing what has come out of our talks with all parties since Christmas," he added.

"The consultation is still ongoing.

"Unfortunately, the problem of surplus places in our schools has not gone away and we need to find a way of dealing with it."