© South Wales Evening Post - 16 August 2005
Opposition councillors in Swansea say they want a guarantee that the millions of pounds the council stands to pick up from the possible sale of a schools site in the city will all go on education. The council is currently planning a big shake-up to cope with falling school rolls.
No decision has yet been taken on whether Dylan Thomas Comprehensive School in Cockett will shut.But opposition councillors say they want clarification on how the cash raised from the schools reorganisation will be spent.
They claim that the Liberal Democrat-led coalition has given conflicting evidence over what will happen to any money from the sale. It could bring in as much as £9 million from property developers.
Labour councillors want all that money to be funnelled into education. But they say they are still waiting for a guarantee about it and are not happy with the answers being given by cabinet members so far.
In a written reply to Labour's question, cabinet member for finance John Newbury said: "As a general principle, the proceeds from the sale of land used by any council services, except housing, will not be ring-fenced."
A month earlier cabinet member for education Mike Day said that £39 million would be saved in the reorganisation and pledged it would all go towards making improvements.
He said: "The organisation plan will manage this issue and all the money that is saved by not funding empty places will go to the front line instead. That means that the amount we can spend on every pupil will go up."
Labour councillor John Miles has now called for clarification over the issue.
He said: "It is not as though we asked a particularly difficult question, but it has obviously proved to be an awkward one for the coalition to answer.
"We now have one cabinet member saying the money will be going into schools and we have another saying it won't. They can't both be right".
Council leader Chris Holley said that both answers were consistent with the council's policy.
He said: "John Newbury has said that the money will go into a central pot."We have said that money which is saved or generated from schools reorganisation will go on improving the education service.
"We are under pressure from the Welsh Assembly to make savings in education and social services."
Mr Holley said that the only reason money was not being ring-fenced for education was because it was not a practical way to run a local authority.
He said: "We are being completely open in our plans for education in the city.
"School reorganisation is the best way to get better value for money."
