'Not fit' additional learning needs school to be replaced

A £35m replacement for Heol Goffa school for pupils with additional learning needs in the Llanelli area has been approved

A £35m additional learning needs school accommodating up to 150 pupils has been approved by a Welsh council, with the existing school described by a school governor as "not fit for purpose".

Plans to replace Ysgol Heol Goffa, Llanelli, were originally cancelled by Carmarthenshire council over rising costs - eight years after it first committed to build a new £10m facility.

After public pressure the council commissioned an independent report into special education provision in the Llanelli area and has now backed plans for a new school costing between £28 and £35m.

Chair of school governors Owen Jenkins said the school community would be "delighted", but warned: "We were here eight years ago".

Mr Jenkins said 133 pupils with additional learning needs would return to the old school in September, in a building he said was not "fit for purpose".

"Our pupils deserve the provision that they are entitled to," he added.

"We'll be pressing the local authority for a rigid timescale so we can know when the first spade will go into the ground.

"Pupils are crying out and our staff as well."

Following a vote by the council cabinet, Glynog Davies, cabinet member for education, said the "new and enlarged" Ysgol Heol Goffa could be built more quickly than the one proposed eight years ago.

Owen Jenkins, chair of the school's governors, said the community had been in the same position before

Davies described the new plan as "a much better outcome for pupils, parents and staff".

A new 150-pupil school was more "achievable", he added, than the alternative option of building a 250-pupil school.

Cabinet members had previously supported two options outlined in the report to replace the oversubscribed Ysgol Heol Goffa, but requested further details on costs and design feasibility.

Lana and Alex Dakin, whose seven-year-old son Jac attends the school, said they were relieved after the decision.

Lana Dakin welcomes the plans but says it will not "undo the years our son Jac has spent in a building that can't meet his needs"

"It won't undo the years our son Jac has spent in a building that can't meet his needs, but at least now there's hope he'll experience some of his school years in a setting that truly supports him," they said.

"That said, the new school must be built immediately - any more delays would be totally unacceptable."

School head Ceri Hopkins said she looked forward to working with the council on an innovative school design.

"Our courageous and creative curriculum is designed to break glass ceilings and inspire aspiration in every learner," she said.

"The new setting will support this by meeting all learning, physical and medical needs," she added.

Council leader Darren Price said it was a "really positive day" for education in Llanelli, while admitting "the last few months had been difficult".

He declined to say when the new school would be open.

"We need to put forward the business case to Welsh government and get that financial sign off."

Alex Dakin and his son, Heol Goffa pupil Jac

"All the statutory hurdles will get done as soon as possible," he added.

"You don't build a school overnight."

He added the process will take time, but would be done "as soon as possible"."

Any new school plans will require financial backing from the Welsh government, which is expected to fund the majority of the costs.

The Welsh government declined to provide a timeline for funding approval, but a spokesperson said it was "up to the local authority to manage the timescales of moving through each stage of the business case process".