The meeting of Carmarthenshire's Planning Committee on 28 March was notable not just for the decision to allow the development of a massive new housing estate in Penybanc near Ammanford, but also for giving the go-ahead to the building of a 1,200 pupil school at Ffairfach just outside Llandeilo.
The battle to save Ysgol Pantycelyn in Llandovery was lost some time ago, but the selection of the site in Ffairfach remained highly controversial. Not only is it on a flood plain, but for children from Llandovery and the surrounding area, the new school will entail very long daily journeys, and thanks to recent cuts to the transport budget, children aged 16 and over will have to pay to travel.
The way in which Ffairfach was chosen was strongly criticised by both Jonathan Edwards MP and AM Rhodri Glyn Thomas. There was overwhelming opposition in Llandovery and the surrounding area, and concerns were also raised in Llandeilo about the site, although locally there was relief that at least children from Llandeilo would not have to commute long distances.
Despite this, the plans were passed by councillors. Given the make-up of the planning committee, this did not come as a surprise. Some of the Labour and Independent members never ever question the recommendations of the planning officers. The Labour Terry and Keri duo (Terry Davies and Keri Thomas) are especially well known for their Judge Jeffreys interpretation of their quasi-judicial functions. At least they are consistent.
As Caebrwyn reports, there is particular outrage in Llandovery at the behaviour of the two local "Independent" councillors who have between them clocked up over 150 years on planet Earth, with quite a chunk of that time spent as county councillors. Both are also members of the Planning Committee.
Cllr Tom Theophilus (Cilycwm) and Ivor Jackson (Llandovery) remained silent while the fate of Ysgol Pantycelyn was being decided, although the council's then Executive Board member responsible for Education, Gwynne Wooldridge, thanked them publicly in the pages of the Carmarthen Journal for their support in the face of angry opposition from local people.
Then at the end of 2011 the two community heroes claimed in the Carmarthen Journal that they had been against the Ffairfach site from the word go. Cllr Tom Theophilus added,
The malicious rumour [that they had supported the council's plans, ed.] spreading in our area and my area is absolutely untrue.
How their fellow Independent Gwynne Wooldridge felt about being accused of spreading malicious rumours is not recorded. The reason for their silence, they said, was that they did not want to breach the code of conduct so that they could participate in the planning process.
On another occasion Cneifiwr well remembers hearing Cllr Jackson address his fellow councillors from the chair to complain bitterly that he had been unfairly attacked, and that he would make his views known at the planning stage.
In the event, Cllr Theophilus turned up to the fateful planning meeting, but abstained. Cllr Jackson apparently decided to go on holiday instead.
Come election time, and you will be hard put to find a single election address from any prospective county councillor which does not promise that they will stand up for their community. No doubt that's what the people of Llandovery and Cilycwm were told by Cllrs Jackson and Theophilus.
Fortunately for both, there is no mechanism to allow voters to recall their elected representatives, and both will continue to claim their allowances and generous travel expenses until 2017. Whether they will stand again, only time will tell, but advanced age has never been an issue for Pam Palmer's raggle taggle army.
For all those who wonder why Carmarthenshire's planning system is so constantly mired in controversy, part of the answer at least lies with the calibre of a significant part of the membership of the planning committee.
Sunday, April 7, 2013
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