Carmarthenshire County Council are facing renewed pressure to select a site to build the new Ysgol Dewi Sant.
It is understood that a committee has now drawn up a preferred shortlist, but Llanelli MS Lee Waters and MP Nia Griffith are calling on the Council to announce the new site as soon as possible.
The previous Education Minister in the Welsh Government, Kirsty Williams, confirmed that funding was still available for the new build after the Llanerch field site was pulled by the Council in 2019.
Parents and governors at the school have raised ongoing concerns about the unsuitability of the existing site, not least since the first lockdown and introduction of social distancing rules.
Cllr Glynog Davies, who is the Council’s Executive Board Member for Education and Children, said in January that he hoped to bring forward a report on a new site “very soon”.
Llanelli MS Lee Waters, said:
“It is deeply frustrating that since the Council withdrew their preferred plan for a new school they are still to produce a viable alternative. We were told in January that a report on the new site was expected “very soon”. It is now June, and parents are right to feel aggrieved that the Council has still not gotten a move on with announcing a new site. If their initial site search was as sincere and thorough as they claimed, why is it taking them so long to come up with an alternative? We look forward to them bringing plans forward as soon as possible.”
Urging the Council to put their foot on the accelerator, Nia Griffith MP , said:
“It is our understanding that the Council has a preferred site, but was prevented from sharing any further information due to the pre-election period rules. Now May’s Senedd elections are over, we feel parents and governors at the school are more than entitled to an update from County Hall. We have written to Cllr Davies to ask that the report into a new site is released imminently, along with clear timescales for the completion of the new school. Parents and pupils deserve nothing less.”
