Review to be extended to look at issues in more detail

YOU may have heard that at cabinet this week we decided to extend a review of our Modernising Education Programme to take into account several new factors that might affect education in the future.

It means that recommendations to issue a statutory notice to close two primary schools following consultation will not go ahead for the moment.

Our education team are already carrying out a review of the MEP – a programme that has seen almost £300 million invested in new and improved primary and secondary schools across the county in recent years.

Now we have asked them to extend the parameters of that review to take into consideration how the likes of Covid, Brexit and the climate change agenda has impacted on how we use our schools, and where parents are choosing to send their children to school.

We must also ensure that the impact on our capital budget is carefully reviewed – the rising cost of construction and materials is having a huge effect on our plans, and we must think carefully about how and where our money is spent.

It is only fair that we look at these issues in detail. The beauty of our MEP is that it has the flexibility to adapt, and with so much happening at the moment, adaption will be the key.

Whilst this does mean that some school proposals will be put on hold, we’re very keen to stress that this will not affect the future of several schools already in the planning or under development – these include the state-of-the-art school we’re planning for children with additional needs that will sit alongside our exciting Pentre Awel scheme in Llanelli.

We look forward to sharing more details on this review as it progresses – we hope you agree that this is necessary to make sure we’re making the right decisions.