School group in plea for meeting

SPECIAL school campaigners have challenged Carmarthenshire Council to meet with them to discuss the options for Llanelli's Ysgol Heol Goffa.

- IAN LEWIS Reporter

Council chiefs in Carmarthenshire want a clearer understanding of costs before deciding to build a much-needed replacement special school.

Cabinet proposed two options to replace Ysgol Heol Goffa at a meeting on June 16: a 150-place school, along with a primary and secondary specialist centre for pupils with autistic spectrum conditions attached to mainstream schools; or a new 250-place school which would include provision for pupils with autistic spectrum conditions.

A replacement Ysgol Heol Goffa was proposed several years ago at the former Draka copperworks site, Llanelli, but the council decided not to press ahead with it last year citing soaring project costs. The decision sparked dismay and anger among campaigners, and the council commissioned an independent review of additional learning needs (ALN) provision in the Llanelli area.

Campaigners who staged protests when the council shelved original plans for a new Ysgol Heol Goffa at the former Draka copperworks site on cost grounds want a decision as quickly as possible to break what they dub "the eight-year deadlock".

Some members of the Ysgol Heol Goffa action group say they fear their preferred plans for a 250-pupil capacity school could be "kicked further into the long grass" by the council, but the local authority has rebutted this and says there is no suggestion of anything being "kicked into the long grass".