Investing in the future

Whilst the PLC coalition play games in Council the Administration are getting on with the job of running Swansea and putting right Labour's neglect.

This investment in a new Morriston Comprehensive School's new £3 million science and maths block is one of a number of projects where we are seeking to improve schools across Swansea.

A fresh approach?

The Inside Outers may well be right in saying that Councillor John Miles' comments on school closures is a fresh approach. However whether it heralds a new era in effective scrutiny is another question.

It is worth noting of course that Councillor Miles was commenting on the outcome of a review started under the previous regime, that up until his assumption of the Committee chairmanship his attendance was patchy to say the least and that overall the opposition had in any case largely abdicated the role of scrutiny.

What is interesting is the new Labour approach to school closures. As is clear from the article there are still some Labour stalwarts who do not believe that shutting down schools is a good idea at all. There is also no indication as to whether Councillor Miles speaks on behalf of the Labour group or not. Our betting is that if any proposals come along the Labour opportunists will jump on the anti bandwagon as they always have done.

The irony is that it is the administration who are less keen on school closures. Still if they find that such a course of action becomes necessary for sound educational reasons they can always ask John Miles to marshall his colleagues behind the proposal. Will they follow him, we wonder?

Update: How would the Labour spin doctors know how Administration Councillors behaved on scrutiny committees? They were never there. For the record the Administration have never operated a whip on scrutiny either.

A necessary measure

Following our last post about Labour's legacy, this item in yesterday's Evening Post, highlights the scale of the problem. As part of our commitment to education and to maintaining the City's assets we have found a one-off sum of £850,000 to invest in essential maintenance in the 12 worst school buildings in Swansea.

The Post's editorial is quite right of course, this is far from adequate, however it is the best we can do with the resources we have at the moment. The paper also says that tough decisions will have to be made to secure a long term solution. Those are the sort of decisions that Labour proved they were incapable of taking when they were in office.

In the best interests of our children we are looking to work with parents, teachers and local communities to find answers and to implement them. The danger however is that Labour politicians will pull their usual trick and try to turn the whole process into a political football. If they do that then they will be doing the City a gross misservice.

Update: The Inside Outers have, as usual got the wrong end of the stick. The extra money for schools has not come from the Welsh Assembly Government but from planned capital borrowing for 2007-2008.

Fireman Phillips

This morning's phone-in on Swansea Sound generated heat from the usual suspects, but for once it also brought two shafts of light.

The first of these came from a more thoughtful than usual Ray Welsby, who at last acknowledged that there is no fourth option to bring Council Housing up to scratch by 2012. This long-awaited admission leaves those opposing stock transfer in a bit of a quandary. Their opposition is now more than ever about political posturing. They have nothing to offer to tenants except false hope.

The second moment to cherish was David Phillips' diatribe on the failings of the Administration. His claim that the Administration are not installing fire alarms into schools because we have no policy was bizarre to say the least. It would also be contrary to building regulations and commonsense.

Still, Phillips' fascination with fire protection measures may well go some way to explain his obsession with the burnt out remains of Penyrheol School. After the fire he made several appearances there, each strangely coincided with visits by the media. It is reputed that he even brought his own hard hat.

Penyrheol School has now been subjected to two serious fires. The first time it burnt down Labour rebuilt it without a sprinkler system. That is not a mistake we will be repeating.