Translation of a post by Vaughan Roderick
As I have criticised a few people in the Welsh language media of being obsessed with the local elections in Gwynedd because they live there, I hope I don't fall into the same trap by writing a few words concerning the latest developments in Cardiff where the Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru have formed a coalition.
It seems that talks regarding that coalition have been rather unproblematic. One subject and one subject alone caused trouble and not because of any disagreement between the two parties but because Plaid Cymru has dug itself into a hole and cannot find a way out of it.
The council's plans to reorganize the county's schools are at the root of the problem. Those plans include a very substantial increase in the provision of Welsh language education -plans that in the end will lead to twenty primary and four comprehensive Welsh language schools in the capital. As one would expect Plaid Cymru supports the plans but in one area, namely Treganna, the nationalists have created dire problems for themselves.
Plaid Cymru's growth in Cardiff during recent years has been based on ensuring the support of some of the city's traditional working class voters (especially those belonging to ethnic minorities) adding them to the support received from the increasing number of Welsh speakers.
One of the wards which had been targetted by Plaid Cymru was Treganna. That campaign was in vain but in an attempt to please everybody Plaid opposed the council plan to close one of the local English medium schools in order to broaden the provision for Welsh medium education.
Plaid Cymru's councillors have found it impossible to reneg on that promise during their talks with the Liberal Democrats. The English school has been saved then and parents of children attending the Welsh school have had to content themselves with the promise that a brand new Welsh medium school will be built for them by 2011.
The council are confident that the promise will be realised. The parents, on the other hand, are doubtful. Whatever the truth is the promise of a new school in the future is of no use to the children who have to put up with limited and secod-rate facilities in the present.
The council has promised temporary measures for the situation but, as in Gwynedd, Plaid Cymru is learning that the anger of parents, be it rational or irrational, is one of the biggest problems when in control.
5 opinions:
This was the only situation in Cardiff where a popular local English medium school was being closed, to open a Welsh medium school. What Plaid are trying to do is to stop bitterness building up between the two language mediums in the capital, whilst at the same time ensuring that the Welsh medium element does not always have to move into the oldest school stock.
There is already provision for Welsh medium starter classes in the city to temporarily cover expansion and Plaid are supporting the Lib Dem proposal for a third Welsh medium comp in the east of the city, which will cost them some votes but is not mentioned in your blog.
Plaid is trying not to disadvantage either set of parents and at least a working majority will now move the reorganisation forward.
You can hardly compare this to Gwynedd.
...but is not mentioned in your blog.
Bear in mind that this is a translation of a post by Vaughan Roderick. I can't insert information not contained in his original post.
Not sure Vaughan is right about this. Even under the previous proposals Lansdowne school wouldn't have closed for several years. I can't see that Ysgol Treganna parents are any worse off under the current proposals.
Vaughan is 100% right. The situation in Canton is that there are four half-empty English-medium primary schools, and one Welsh-medium primary, which is turning pupils away because it is full.
School reorganisation within Canton is the obvious answer, and to be fair to them the Lib Dem 2004-8 Cardiff administration faced up to this.
For reasons of political expediency (winning votes of parents at one English-medium school), Plaid have made it a condition of the new coalition on Cardiff council that school reorganisation in Canton be scrapped. Instead a new Welsh-medium school will be built. However, there's a problem. The new school won't be in Canton! (It will be somewhere near Ely Bridge).
Welsh-medium children will lose their right to an education in their own community.
Educationally, it's a clear case of Plaid discriminating against Welsh-medium children.
Politically? It is always very dangerous for a political party to hurt its' core constituency, especially on an issue like education where even normally loyal voters will rebel for the sake of their children. Vaughan is right. Expect trouble for Plaid in Cardiff West...
Simon Brooks claims that there are four 'half-empty' English-medium schools in Canton. This is quite clearly wrong - a comment he modifies in published articles. The article recently published in Barn, translated into English on this site, shows very clearly that he's extremely close to the Treganna cause(despite the only role of his being stated in Barn as a Cardiff University academic, presumably lending some credence to the 'objective' and well-researched article) - check the 22 staff and one toilet claim, a frequent propaganda claim of Treganna's. Hey, I'd send my kids to a school where the the staff to pupil ratio is 1:9....
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