IN AN Extraordinary Council meeting on Thursday, (Apr 21). Pembrokeshire County Council agreed on a site for the proposed 3-16 Welsh school in Haverfordwest.

The new school is planned to be located at Withybush opposite the Lost Coins pub on the main roundabout connecting Fishguard and the north of the county with Haverfordwest via the A40 and neighbouring the roundabout which connects Haverfordwest with the north and east of the county on the B4329.

Concerns were expressed by councillors that the location of the proposed school had been announced after the consultation period had ended and that parents of potential parents at the new school were unable to make the assessment.

Cllr Tom Tudor read a letter from a parent on St Thomas Green who would like her son to attend a Welsh Medium School but due to their own disability would be unable to walk their child to school, while school transport would not be a viable option for a five year old.

Cllr Jamie Adams confirmed that nine sites had been considered and repeated his untrue assertion that the Tasker-Milward site was unavailable because charity trustees would not support the location of a purely Welsh Medium school on the site.

That misstatement was picked up upon by Cllr Bob Kilmister who told councillors that the truth was that the Council had made a complete mess of the schools consultations as a result of incorrect advice given to them at the outset by Council officers.

Cllr Mike Evans expressed his concern that the new provision was not being located where most of the drive for separate welsh language provision was coming, in the south of Pembrokeshire.

He poured scorn on Jamie Adams’s attempts to misquote his own words back to him by way of response and expressed his continued concern that the Cabinet member for Education appeared to be unable to answer straight questions without assistance from the officer sitting next to her.

Cllr Evans eventually extracted a satisfactory answer from Cllr Perkins after repeatedly enquiring whether sixth form Welsh Medium Education would be offered in the future at the school.

Cllr Perkins eventually and after much prompting, managed to explain that it was an option but that the Council could not be bound to the location of such provision at this point, although there was sufficient land available for the Council’s money to provide such a facility.

Cllr David Bryant quoted a rumoured price of £1m for the purchase of the land and asked for confirmation that was the sum involved.

Cllr Jamie Adams replied that he would not disclose the purchase price for reasons of commercial sensitivity. It was forcefully pointed out by David Bryant that councillors were being asked to sign a blank cheque for the purchase of the land.

Council then had to move into private session to be told the price of purchasing land to be owned by the public with public money for the building of a school to be financed by the public.

After a short interval, the webcast resumed and the public debate continued.

However, the cat was effectively let out of the bag by an intervention from chair Wynne Evans, who warned Cllr Jacob Williams at a later stage in the debate when he quoted a £1m purchase price for the land.

Councillors were repeatedly reassured by Cllr Adams and – occasionally by Cllr Perkins – that everything was legal and above board and there were no legal issues regarding the consultation and that all schools potentially affected had been contacted and consulted, although Cllr Perkins appeared unable to substantiate a claim that parents had been consulted on the school’s location.

While councillors overwhelmingly voted in favour of the plan going to further consultation – there will now be a formal objection period for further observations and responses – a considerable number of councillors expressed misgivings about costs and the transport issue, to suggest that the next stage will be anything but smooth.

After the meeting, Bethan Williams, Cymdeithas yr Iaith’s area officer for Dyfed said: “Now that a site has been designated for a 3-16 Welsh school in Haverfordwest, the plan is a step closer, and the need for Welsh provision needs to be addressed elsewhere in the county.

“The report before councillors today recognises the fact that many areas have been added to the catchment area of the proposed new school, as a strategy for Welsh education is lacking in those areas.

“What the Council needs to do is move all schools in the county along the linguistic continuum gradually, with the aim that all schools are Welshmedium over time. That way, no one would be deprived of an education in Welsh.”