South Wales Evening Post - 22 November 2006
A fight has been launched against controversial plans to move a Swansea children's home.
Swansea Council wants to relocate the existing home in West Cross to a new site in Blaenymaes and build a new Welsh medium school in its place.
But Labour are challenging the decision and asking for it to be called in and reviewed.
Swansea Council's presiding officer, Lib-Dem councillor Susan Waller, will rule on whether to allow the call in and pass it to the challenge panel for a review.
Labour have criticised the choice made by Swansea's ruling cabinet.
They claim the decision ignored key criteria and the council failed to consult with the children affected by the plans.
Councillors June Burtonshaw, Doreen Jones and Grenville Phillips, who represent Blaenymaes, are leading the calls for a rethink.
Councillor Phillips said: "This decision is just plain wrong and not in the best interests of these very vulnerable children."The report makes clear that the motivation for all of this was not the needs of the children, but the need to find a new site for Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Llwynderw.
"We fully support the need for a new Welsh medium primary school, but this should not be by depriving vulnerable children of their 'home'."
Labour councillors claim the decision goes against standards set by the council.
It set out to find a location that was not in an area of economic depravation and had good transport links for youths.
But the planned site in Milford Way, Blaenymaes, is a Community First area and has no buses after 6pm due to problems with anti-social behaviour.
West Cross councillor Mark Child said the children's home was already in an ideal location and that plans to spend £1.4 million on the new site would be better spent improving the current facility.
He said: "But what concerns us more is that despite it being council policy, none of the children currently living in West Cross have been asked what they want."
Coalition councilor Gerald Clement dismissed the move as political mischief making.
He said: "The actual place that they are proposing to build it is better than what is in West Cross. It was built 10 years ago and was never fit for purpose since its inception.
"It is a better provision, it is more modern. It is a good story as far as I am concerned. This appears to be their last throw and it is a pity they have chosen to involve vulnerable children in their political move."
