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Tough choices for 21st century schools

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In an exclusive interview with The Pembrokeshire Herald, Council Leader Jamie Adams shares his vision for the future of Pembrokeshire’s schools

A COLD grey day slowly fades into twilight as Jamie Adams sits at a desk opposite me in an office tucked away in a maze of corridors at County Hall.

We are here to talk about the 21st Century Schools programme: the ambitious and wide-ranging plans that are a significant and potentially controversial part of the County Council’s plans for the future of education in Pembrokeshire.

tough choicesIn short, local authorities have been told to look at schools with low numbers and consolidate them, to look at their estate and ways to improve it and offered the chance of limited time funding to do both. The policy gained a high-profile casualty when the former Welsh Government Education Minister, Leighton Andrews, resigned after fighting locally a policy he promoted nationally.

The Pembrokeshire Herald wanted to find out what the Council’s plans were and, in a wide-ranging interview, spoke to Jamie Adams – who chairs the authority’s 21st Century Schools Management Board – about them.

“I would not say that the position in Pembrokeshire is any more challenging than it is in other counties,” Jamie Adams begins.

“I would rather regard it as an opportunity to shape the provision of education, and to address the problem of surplus places in our schools.

“We have twenty percent more school spaces than we have pupils to fill those spaces. Now, there are counties – I won’t name them – in which difficult decisions have been avoided in favour of the status quo. That is the easy route to take.

“For now, however, Pembrokeshire has the chance to obtain the funding to provide new buildings and new schools and to build for the future. This is a once in a generation chance to do this and I think that we should take up the challenge to shape education in our county for the better.”

He pauses and looks reflective, before continuing: “In order to build new schools, we must make some other choices. We have the opportunity to rationalize the Council’s estate. We cannot afford to operate surplus buildings or surplus space. It ties up capital.

“A good example would be youth centres, day centres, family centres: we cannot afford to keep these as single use buildings used only part of the time. We must ‘sweat the assets’ to get the most out of them. That means combining buildings’ uses to keep services affordable and buildings viable.

“We must do this in order to get the funding we need. The original 21st Century Schools scheme provided for a 70-30 split between central government and central government inputs. That is now 50-50. We have to find forty percent more of the funding than originally planned. As we are the second highest recipient of central government funding in Wales, our challenge is that much greater in terms of capacity for capital projects. We have got off to a good start and have a lot of the money in place. I am confident that within two years we will be one third of the way to our funding target in terms of releasing capital.

“As a council, our challenge over the next two to three years is to release the money tied up in existing assets that can be realised. That can only be done by a collective effort. My challenge is to convey the message that we need to move away from holding too much in buildings to do more with services.”

But what of specific schools: Johnston, for instance?

“When we first sent our exploratory bids in, they were prepared to a tight timescale as aspirational expressions of what we wanted to achieve. There was a narrow window provided by the Welsh Government. Some other Welsh councils decided not to stick their necks out, we were prepared to take the chance given.

“Since our initial expressions, we have taken the opportunity think both generally and strategically at schools and our education system in Pembrokeshire. We are focusing on three things: growth, outcomes and quality of build. We must also consider Welsh medium provision and special educational needs.

“So in terms of Johnston School, we looked again at the site. The present site is a nightmare for traffic twice a day. The streets around the school are simply not built to handle the number of cars going back and forward there. In addition, the buildings are ‘tired’ and need updating/replacing.

“While we looked originally at developing on the existing site, we decided that it was rather like trying to fit a size eight foot in a size six shoe. It is simply not going to fit. So, we have decided to find out if there are chances to develop elsewhere in Johnston.

“Secondly, we have identified an additional need for further support for special educational needs covering the area between Haverfordwest and Milford Haven and stretching inland and toward the coast. If you look at a map of the County, one location stands out as the sensible place to locate that provision: Johnston.

“In light of that revised thinking, our original proposal for Johnston School’s present site has been replaced by our wish to look at the opportunities for building a new school on a new site.”

What about Hakin and Hubberston schools?

“That’s an ongoing consultation, and I don’t want to prejudge its outcome. I point out, however, that for pre-eleven education, Estyn is looking for a single site school. Now Hakin is a split site already and Estyn want that point addressed.

“In terms of Hubberston, I do not doubt that we could make do with the existing buildings for a few more years, but the opportunity to develop our options is now. I think this is a unique chance to develop a new school on a single site.

“There are, of course, other issues: I am particularly pleased that the revised proposals incorporate the opportunity to retain faith-based education; that is to be welcomed. I am pleased that this area is bucking the trend across the county and that there is a growing young population there. In order to address that issue, we really ought to future-proof our provision now, when we have the chance. Finally, as it stands, we have three schools in very close proximity to each other and a new school on a single site makes more sense.

“At Broad Haven School we have the chance to provide a nursery and additional capacity. To an extent that is a less complicated project, as it is a much smaller school. But it fits into our strategic plan for the future provision of school places across Pembrokeshire.

“Make no mistake: we will have to make tough choices in the future as well. The Council will be moving on to consider the Angle Peninsula and the area south and west of Pembroke town. We need to consider how viable our current provision is and whether there are opportunities to use resources more efficiently there.

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Rugby Weekly – Tenby’s promotion push continues

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It’s crunch time for all rugby clubs around the county, whether promotion is their aim or fighting relegation or even just trying to improve their league position, it’s now or never. 

Last weekend saw an important win for Fishguard in division two west which should put any relegation fears to bed completely. James Griffiths added an impressive 18 points for the Seagulls as they defeated Nantgaredig 33-19. 

Elsewhere in the second division, Milford were beaten 32-8 by a good Lampeter outfit. The Mariners are still a little too close for comfort with the drop zone but should have enough quality to see them safe. 

At the other end of the table Tenby sit in second place and have played fewer games than leaders St Clears and third place Lampeter. They won impressively again last weekend, beating Pontyberem 64-19 at Haywood Lane. Fletcher Broadhurst impressed with two tries as did Hywel Baker who also grabbed himself a brace. Another excellent performance in an outstanding season so far in which promotion would be the absolute icing on the cake. 

In Division Three West, Pembroke were well beaten by Laugharne 74-15 in which the outstanding Liam Price and Nico Setaro both crossed the whitewash 4 teams a piece. The latter also added 7 successful conversions. 

There was a local derby at Pill Parks where Llangwm hosted Pembroke Dock Quins and it was an exciting clash. The visitors won narrowly 28-23, Craig Barnett and Gethin Bradney both scored two tries for the Quins. The Wasps battled hard and will be proud of their performance, Gethin Thomas impressed for the hosts with two tries of his own but it wasn’t enough to secure the points. 

St David’s hosted the high flying Cardigan outfit and were unable to score in reply to the visitors 20 points, with it ending 20-0. The Saints however won’t be losing too much sleep over it as they have had a great season so far. 

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Business

Stephen Crabb leads inquiry on retaining community bank services  

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PRESELI Pembrokeshire MP, and Chair of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee Stephen Crabb is leading an inquiry in Parliament that will investigate the closure of high street banks in Wales, as well as access to cash.

In November 2023, Pembrokeshire saw the closure of Lloyds Bank in St Davids, and in the coming months both Barclays Bank and Halifax in Haverfordwest are set to close. In recent years, Wales has experienced a rapid decline in the number of high street banking services available to the public. Already in 2024, 23 high street bank closures have been announced in Wales, while automated teller machines (ATMs) declined by nearly a quarter between 2018 and 2023.

The Committee willconsider how declining high street banking services are impacting vulnerable people and small businesses across Wales, who are often more reliant on cash than digital banking. It will also examine how Wales is being affected by the loss of high street bank services, and whether the problem is worse in Wales than other parts of the UK.

Mr Crabb is a staunch advocate for retaining community banking facilities, especially in rural communities like Pembrokeshire where many local branches remain the only source of face-to-face banking provision for miles.

Recently Mr Crabb challenged Barclays Bank senior management on their decision to close the bank branch in Haverfordwest– a move that will see Barclays not only pull out of the county town, but means they won’t have a branch left anywhere in Pembrokeshire. He has also engaged with LINK – the UK’s largest cash machine network – and continues to campaign on the basis that a Banking Hub is established and that ATM machines should be retained or installed, especially in areas worst affected by the closures.  

Following the launch of the inquiry, MP Crabb added: “It is really sad to see so many banks across Wales closing as online banking grows in popularity. Despite the advantages of online banking, for a rural community with an ageing population like Pembrokeshire, bank branches hold huge importance as they offer face-to-face customer service.”

“I am acutely aware of the inconvenience that the bank closures locally have already caused following hundreds of replies from constituents to my ‘online banking survey’ ”

“I am looking forward to gathering further evidence on this subject through the committee’s inquiry, and will continue to put pressure on the relevant stakeholders to ensure that adequate alternative provisions are made through the establishment of banking hubs as well as the instalment of ATM machines where necessary.”

“In this inquiry, we are particularly keen to hear from those likely to be directly affected by the shift away from cash and physical banks. I encourage anyone with first-hand experience of losing banking services to give evidence to the Committee”

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Trains resume between Carmarthen and Pembroke Dock as works end

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TRAIN services resumed this morning (Thursday 28 March) after ten days of essential round-the-clock work to upgrade track and drainage between Carmarthen and Pembroke Dock.

The railway was closed from Monday 18 March to Wednesday 27 March to allow Network Rail teams to replace more than 200 metres of track and 300 tonnes of ballast (track stones) between Pembroke station and Pembroke Dock.

Work to improve the drainage between Narbeth and Kilgetty stations was also completed at the same time.

Nick Millington, Network Rail Wales and Borders route director, said: “This essential work in Pembrokeshire demonstrates our commitment to improving the reliability of the service we provide to passengers along our route.

“We know that replacing the track can be disruptive and very noisy, so I would like to thank the residents of Pembroke for their patience while our team carried out this crucial work.”

Colin Lea, Planning and Performance Director at Transport for Wales said: “We’re pleased that our colleagues in Network Rail have completed this essential work and that Transport for Wales rail services resumed today.

“We’d like to thank passengers for their patience while this work has progressed and look forward to welcoming passengers back in time for the Easter weekend.”

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