.comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Saving schools

Whatever the merits or demerits of closing Ysgol Llwyngwril, in Gwynedd, the Welsh Tory Leader may well regret promising to keep it open if he gets into government.

According to the Western Mail, Mr. Bourne making a rare appearance in this election, visiting Ysgol Llwyngwril with fellow Assembly candidates Lisa Francis, Ian Harrison and Simon Baynes and said:

“This school should not be closed and Welsh Conservatives would protect it. It’s a successful school, it forms a vitally important part of this village community and everyone associated with it deserves much better.”

That is very clear. If, however Mr. Bourne finds himself in a Government position and makes good on his promise then he will immediately leave himself open to judicial review for prejudging the application.

Such are the perils of political campaigning, an artform that does not always fit well with the exercise of power.
Comments:
You've been surprisingly quiet on the spelling and grammar mistakes in the Welsh Lib Dem manifesto. Given your sneering at Plaid's "blunders", shouldn't you at least own up to being embarrassed?
 
I didnt sneer, I posted a tongue in cheek comment in which I acknowledged in advance that it was likely to be a problem. The important point about the manifesto is the policies within it not the typos. Plaid's problem was not the typos but the complete misattribution of the slogan on which it was based.
 
The manifesto launch seems to pull in a title of one of your other blog posts "Where's Nick ?" But in this case Mr Clegg not Mr Bourne. ;-)
 
Except that this is a Welsh election not a UK one so it would not be appropriate for the Federal leader to be at the manifesto launch. Kirsty is the Welsh leader and she was there. As it happens Nick Clegg has already spent one day touring Wales supporting our candidates so we are hardly hiding him away.
 
Mr Bourne will not regret promising to keep Ysgol Llwyngwril open if he is ever in the position you suggest for a number of very good reasons three of them are...
1. The alternative proposal from Ysgol Llwyngwril saves more money and adheres to more European, National, Welsh and local policies than the council's proposal.
2. The council and the assembly have acted illegally in their consultation process.
3. We can guarantee that keeping our community alive will benefit the whole region.

If you would like to learn more about our proposals please get in touch via our Friends of the Children of Llwyngwril facebook page.

You may then be able to make informed comments rather than criticise something you don't understand!
 
You have completely misinterpreted what I have written. I offer no comment on the merits or otherwise of keeping this school open nor do I comment on the merits or otherwise of Nick Bourne backing your cause.

My point is that the promise made by the Tory leader to save the school if he is in government has automatically excluded him from that decision making process because of the quasi judicial nature of the process. That judgement is based on my informed position.

I am sure that you have an excellenmt case but this blog post does not discuss that.
 
Thank you for the reply but the process has already concluded its objection period and the matter will now be decided by the minister. Our objection period ended before Mr Bourne made his comments and Mr Bourne has seen both our proposals and those of the Local Education Authority.
Whenever we have tried to tell Labour, Plaid and the Lib Dems about our alternative proposal they refuse to look at it because the Welsh Assembly had already awarded the money based on a proposal submitted by the LA before the consultation had even started. This is what we want addressing! We NEVER had a level playing field and have been patronised for being passionate.
 
Yed, my point is that if Nick Bourne is that Minister after the elections he will be excluded from dealing with it.
 
Then we shall be relying on you and other intellegent, fair-minded politicians to make sure our cause is not simply rubber stamped through convenience or ignorance.
 
Post a Comment



<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?