NO decisions have been made about a new primary school in Llanelli which could have been built by now had things gone to plan, a Carmarthenshire politician said.
Cllr Glynog Davies, cabinet member for education, had been asked by Green Party councillor Rob James about “incredibly slow” progress relating to Ysgol Dewi Sant.
Cllr James asked the cabinet member for an update at a meeting of full council including when a planning application could be anticipated.
It reprised a long-running debate between the Plaid-Independent administration and Cllr James, formerly a Labour councillor, with Cllr Davies recalling him “asking question after question after question” about Ysgol Dewi Sant a few years ago.
A previous plan to build a new Ysgol Dewi Sant on Llanerch recreational land had been put on hold in 2018 while the Welsh Government, which had approved the project, considered residents’ concerns about flooding and other matters.
In 2020 the council shelved the £9.1m Llanerch new-build scheme following discussions with school governors and staff and then started looking for alternative sites.
In April 2025 it emerged the council was exploring the suitability of the former Llanelli leisure centre site off Park Crescent. Speaking at the time, Michael Bassett, chairman of Ysgol Dewi Sant’s governing body, said it was pleased to hear of this development.
At the June 10 council meeting Cllr Davies said Cllr James had been “in full objection” to the Llanerch project – one that he himself believed would have been “an excellent site” – and that the school would have opened its doors by now had the plans come to fruition.
The Plaid cabinet member said no decisions had been made on the suitability of the leisure centre site and that it would be unwise of him to pre-empt the ongoing work and set out any timeline.
He said the feasibility study needed to be thorough and ensure any future proposal was sustainable. “We all have to recognise the scale and complexity of that work,” he said, adding that he’d be happy to provide an update when something worthwhile could be said.
Cllr James then asked Cllr Davies if “he would feel like he failed” if a timeline wasn’t set out before next year’s council elections given “it’s always been stated that Ysgol Dewi Sant is his priority this term”. Cllr Davies repeated what he said about pre-empting the ongoing work. “That is the situation,” he said.
A report by Welsh inspection body Estyn in 2017 said Ysgol Dewi Sant had 467 pupils and that its buildings posed challenges in terms of providing an appropriate learning environment for the number of learners and the activities on offer.
An Estyn inspection seven years later said there were 439 pupils on the roll and that extremely positive attitudes to learning were encouraged thanks to the acting headteacher’s high expectations. It didn’t mention the buildings.
