School plan on hold as call-in is requested
CONTENTIOUS plans for a new primary school on recreation fields in Llanelli are on hold while the Welsh Government considers a call-in request.
Carmarthenshire council wants to build a replacement Ysgol Dewi Sant at Llanerch fields, south of Heol Nant-y-Felin.
Campaigners against the proposal don’t want the fields built on – and an attempt to get the site designated as a village green was turned down.
Now, Llanelli AM Lee Waters has written to the Welsh Government on behalf of concerned residents asking for the council’s application to be
called in.
Mr Waters, Deputy Minister for Economy and Transport, wrote on Facebook that he had met the council’s chief executive, Wendy Walters, and asked the authority to have a rethink.
“The school desperately needs a new building but there’s strong local feeling that it needs to be on a more appropriate site,” he said.
The council carried out a public consultation prior to submitting a planning application in April last year.
A design and access statement said Llanerch fields were felt to be the most appropriate of nine sites considered.
The proposed £9.1 million school would accommodate the increasing demand for Welsh-medium education with 420 primary and 60 nursery places available. The development would also offer community benefits.
The current Ysgol Dewi Sant site does not meet council standards in a number of areas.
Referring to the Welsh Government’s stop notice on the current plans, Lliedi councillor Rob James said he had raised concerns about the new site “from day one”.
He said: “I am passionate about the need for a new school for the pupils of Ysgol Dewi Sant and it is important that local pupils get the benefits of a 21st-century school.”
A flood assessment report carried out in January this year said a number of Welsh Water storage tanks were located under the Llanerch fields site. The report’s authors concluded there was a low risk of flooding from the adjacent Afon Lliedi, except for the proposed overflow car park.
The council’s director of environment, Ruth Mullen, confirmed it had been notified by the Welsh Government of the call-in request.