Ronnie Job, Swansea Socialist Party
School playing fields are not “surplus land”. So said close to 100 concerned parents and local residents at Parkland Primary School, Swansea, in December. The meeting discussed how to fight council plans to sell off a large part of the school’s playing fields.
Members of the action committee showed how the council rushed proposals, failed to consult properly, and apparently ignored guidelines on play space required per pupil.
Swansea council is the first in Wales to adopt the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Yet the Council hasn’t asked the opinion of school pupils at all on these detrimental changes to their environment.
The rushing of these proposals is directly due to Labour’s acceptance of Con-Dem government cuts. Despite Labour leading the Welsh Government and half the councils in Wales, it has simply been a conveyor belt for Westminster cuts.
Labour hopes and expects to lead the next government after the general election in May. But councils around the country, including Swansea, are making plans for the cuts to continue. Swansea council’s cabinet is proposing to cut funding for our children’s education by 15%.
Not “surplus”
Some Labour councillors have tried to portray the playing field sale as disposing of “surplus land” to fund school building improvements. The place where my child plays, learns and develops is not “surplus land”!
If councillors thought this would be a soft target, they are very much mistaken. Parents, pupils and local residents will fight them all the way.
- Watch the “Save Parkland playing field” video at http://goo.gl/OfXpvm
