As Cardiff Council publish their strategy for re-organising schools in the city today, Cymdeithas yr Iaith has noted one aspect of the announcement that will surely embarrass Carmarthenshire County Council.

Cardiff Council are undertaking a public consultation on the full strategy over the next three months before forging ahead with any particular plans. This is the exact opposite of the situation in Carmarthenshire where education officials and Council leaders persistently insist that they will not discuss the foundations of their strategy for “Modernising Education Provision” (the MEP) with the public.In Carmarthenshire, the council insists that the only consultation needed is the statutory procedure that must, legally, be followed when considering proposals for closing individual schools.Cymdeithas Education spokesperson Ffred Ffransis commented:"We welcome Cardiff Council’s decision to consult with the public with regards to their strategy as a whole and Cymdeithas yr Iaith will be contributing to that consultation. There is acknowledgement here that the principles and context set in the strategy will, to all intents and purposes, seal the fate of many schools in the city. This is exactly what we have been asking Carmarthenshire County Council to do. But Carmarthenshire officers have been determined to deny the county’s people the opportunity to have that all-important discussion with the Council.""Surely, Jane Davidson (Education Minister at the National Assembly) cannot continue to let Carmarthenshire County Council get away with not conducting a broad consultation with the county’s residents and communities on the principles underpinning the MEP. We call on her to insist that Carmarthenshire’s education officers take heed of the lesson given by their peers in the capital city and to declare that consultations on individual school closure plans will not be valid otherwise."