The LibDem/Independent-led coalition at Swansea Council is yet again prevaricating over proposals to close secondary schools across the city in an attempt to tackle the issue of falling pupil rolls, under-used classroom space and the resulting inefficiencies in the education budget.
Add to this the estimated school buildings repair bill of £147 million, it become clearly apparent to even the most casual observer that Swansea's secondary schools are in need of a much needed and long overdue shake-up.
The initial options to deal with the problems of excess school places were presented to Councillors and the public in March of last year. Yet Councillors won't get to see any progress report until March of this year. What on earth can of been happening in the intervening 12 months? If your guess is "sweet Fanny Adams" then I think you would probably not be too wide of the mark.
The problem facing the Cabinet which makes these decisions at Swansea Council, is that whilst it is made up of ostensibly one one Political Group (the so-called "Swansea Administration Group"), this Group is a confection. It is made up of alleged Liberal Democrats (most of whom on Swansea Council wouldn't know one end of a LibDem manifesto from the other and if they did they would probably shriek with suburban horror and run a mile), "independents" (made up of the ultra-right, the ultra-left and the rest of the political flotsam and jetsam of Swansea) and not forgetting the one Plaid Cymru candidate to survive the cull of nationalists in the 2008 election.
These warring tribes come together like Afghan war lords, but minus the charm, to decide on our city's future. Yet their collective understanding of any strategic priorities, or their grasp of governing in the city's wider interests, are dashed on the rocks of self-interest, parochial concerns and love of their Additional Responsibility Allowances. To get any of the Cabinet Members to swallow the prospect of a school closing in their ward, for the sake of a more efficient and better quality education service for the rest of the city, would make the search for peace in the Middle East look like a piece of cake.
So,whilst the cerebral Cabinet Member for Education, Councillor Mike Day, may come forward with proposals for radical and far-reaching reforms of our city's schools, making them fit for purpose within the next ten years through his grandly named "QED 2020" (Quality in EDucation) plan, the chances of him steering it through the shark-infested waters of his own Group look about as likely as Councillor Rob Speht making a plausible case for him being allowed to vote on last Thursday's wind farm planning application.
My challenge to the Swansea Administration is simple: put the kids of Swansea first, make a decision on the best way to provide efficient, good quality schools across our city and implement it, NOW!!!
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Of course this timetable has nothing to do with the fact that any reorganisation will cost mega bucks. As the Council is being starved of resources by the Welsh Assembly Government it is not something they have at the moment.
ReplyDeleteOr indeed anything to do with the impending General Election or the 2011 Assembly Elections...then the 2012 local elections...this Council will not do anything it considers might risk its political opportunities. They take no decisions, put party politics before good governance and then claim to be running an open and transparent regime. I've seen from the inside how they run the place and it ain't good...
ReplyDeleteANONYMOUS - The Swansea Lib Dem administration are not "starved of resources" you dimwit - they waste money because they are incompetent.
ReplyDelete£83 million IT system [which doesn't fully work] Bendy bus, £2,235,000 to STADCO a private company that runs the Liberty Stadium, £32 million borrowed for the leisure centre which was then handed over to a trust, although we the tax payer still fund the trust to the tune of 1.5 million a year. The wastage with the Lib Dems administration is unequaled throughout Wales. How Swansea could end up with so many
village idiots on the same Council administration is beyond belief.
They knew such a re-organisation would cost MEGA bucks and they knew they didn't have the money but that did not stop the dumbo's from making the scheme public and causing months and years of anxiety to many parents and children.
There can be no excuses for the nose troughing idiots.
Well said anon@24/1/2010 16:15 !
ReplyDeleteThe Auditor's Report presented to last week's Council Meeting also showed that Swansea Council were the WORST in Wales in terms of putting in place a plan to reach the Welsh Housing Quality Standard by 2012. And the Cabinet Member in charge of Housing? The man the LibDems and their cronies want to see as MP for Swansea West!!
What a bunch of Jokers!!!!
On Swansea Sound this morning Kirsty Williams the leader of the Lib Dem idiots stated that "all councils in Wales have to meet the WHQS by 2012" - is this woman so far removed from reallity that she is unaware of the fact that NO council in Wales will have reached the standard by 2012.
ReplyDeleteAs far the Cabinet Member for Housing namely Peter May, he cannot answer a question unless it is written on a NOTE he recieves from the Director of Housing who always sits behind him - and this is the CLOWN the Lib Dems thnk is in with a chance of taking Swansea West in May - dream on you plonkers.