Changes made to key document recommending closure of school

Richard Youle, Local Democracy reporter

A document recommending the closure of a primary school has been amended after councillors raised concerns about its contents.

The consultation document for Ysgol Bancffosfelen, near Pontyberem in Carmarthenshire, was changed following questions about finances, building issues and school leadership.

It is one of four primary schools the Plaid-Independent council has proposed closing at the end of December 2027, citing low pupil numbers, surplus places and financial deficits.

Councillors raised their concerns at a scrutiny meeting on October 13. Education officers subsequently revised the document, with a majority of the education, young people and Welsh language scrutiny committee accepting the changes at a special meeting on October 23.

However, questions remained over the school’s stated capacity and how this affected the calculation of surplus places.

Cllr Liam Bowen questioned why the published capacity was given as 98 when the document also said it was currently 86 because part of the school building had been taken out of use.

Allan Carter, Carmarthenshire’s schools transformation and change manager, said the published capacity would reduce to 86 next year.

“We have acknowledged in the report that future capacity will come down,” he said.

Cllr Bowen, whose ward includes the school, said using the figure of 98 skewed the percentage of surplus places.

“It’s factually incorrect, isn’t it – you know that, we know that, the school know that, that it will change,” he said.

Director of education Owain Lloyd said the consultation document had to be published at a point in time and that it was incorrect to say it contained factual inaccuracies.

Cllr Bowen then asked about a commitment he said the council had made to demolish part of the school building.

Committee chairman Cllr Peter Hughes-Griffiths rebuked him, saying he felt Cllr Bowen was “going after other things in these questions”.

The meeting also heard that a forthcoming Estyn report on Ysgol Bancffosfelen would be made public and considered before any final decisions were taken.

Committee members were told additional space would be created at Ysgol Pontyberem, where Ysgol Bancffosfelen pupils would go if their school closed, subject to Welsh Government funding.

The consultation document said: “The local authority currently plan to progress with this expansion in accommodation whether the proposal to close Ysgol Bancffosfelen is implemented or not.”

Decisions 

Cabinet is due to take the next in a series of decisions about Ysgol Bancffosfelen and the three other schools facing potential closure – Ysgol Blaenau, Ysgol Carwe and Ysgol Pontiets – at a meeting next month.

Cllr Jean Lewis said she sympathised with Cllr Bowen because he was representing constituents who were asking him questions about the proposals.

She said answers would enable him to “go back confidently to say: ‘Look, this is what has happened.’”

Cllr Hughes-Griffiths accepted her point but said the October 13 meeting had been the opportunity to discuss the consultation document in full.

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