The Biggest Development Since the Castle Was Built

... was one comment at the meeting at Hay School this evening, which gives some idea of the scale of what is being proposed for Hay.
It was the re-run of last week's meeting, which was split into two meeting - for all the people who couldn't get in the first time, and again it was split into two meetings. This time, everyone had a seat in the school hall, and there were fewer initial speakers, which meant that people could go into more detail.
So, again, this is going to be a long post.

Tim Organ was able to add to what he said last week that he and his team had been in touch with the Highways Department of the County Council - and they have said they would assist Plan B with creating routes for children to be able to walk or cycle to school. This would have a knock on effect of benefiting everyone who wants to walk or cycle around Hay.
He mentioned Bulletin 99, a government document laying out the criteria for school facilities, which said that 8% of the floorspace should be given over to whatever the teachers think is important locally for the school - which makes it important for them to communicate with the architects, something that has not happened with the developers in this case.
He also mentioned something called REAM, which has to do with sustainability and the standards of building of new schools - something that the present government are thinking of getting rid of, which means that future school buildings would not have to be built to the present requirements. Do we really want another sub-standard school, and look forward to having the same discussions about replacing it in 30 years time? Tim Organ was talking about a school which would still be viable in 100 years.
He talked, too, about the Castle, and the plans for development there which would include arts and educational facilities. Far better to have the school in its present position so it is easy for the children to cross the road to access those facilities when they become available.
The Highways Dept have also said that, considering the increased volume of traffic which would need to use Forest Road, should the school, care home and community centre be built there, they would need to put traffic lights in at the Forest Road/Brecon Road junction.

The question and answer session was much concerned with the way the money is being worked out, and who owns what.
It seems that the developer doesn't actually have any funding for the community centre they have promised, and the care home would be a private scheme, funded as a PFI like the present doctors' surgery (and with the same owners).
So, would the school building be a PFI? The only word from the County Council is that they "don't believe" it would be.

Tim Organ described a project he'd been involved in on the edge of Bristol, which started with a passionate physiotherapist and £100 in the bank, and grew into a horse riding therapy centre which was also used by police horses, and a project for the blind, and was opened by Princess Anne! All the community had come together to do this, he said, so if we really want something, we can make it happen.
Plan B are already talking to the Welsh Government about direct funding for a school building.

Someone brought up the subject of the money that had already been raised for a new community centre, dating back at least 10 years, if not more. That money is presumably sitting in a bank somewhere - but it seems to be under the care of the Sports Association, as far as anyone knows. Also on the subject of raising money to go towards the new development - how much would the sale of the present community centre raise? It was believed that it would bring in about £350,000. The money from sale of the other schools in the area, which the County Council means to close, would not be put towards a new school in Hay, even though that is where the children from those schools would be re-located to, but would go into a general County Council pot.
So there's a problem here - nobody can get the figures to add up to cover all the building that has been promised.

Another concern is that some people have gone into the history of Gaufron in its various forms over the years. They were involved in the building of Clifford School and Ysgol Y Bannau and other local projects - and in each case, they went bust half way through the building work.

It seems that it was Gaufron, together with the Sports Association, that approached the County Council with the deal - with the result that the County Council then did not apply to the Welsh Assembly for the funding to replace Hay School, but depended on the Gaufron scheme going ahead. They seem to have no alternative plans if anything goes wrong - and it is a high risk plan, with several different elements. If one of those elements fails, then the whole plan fails. The County Council have said this themselves, at the same time as they said: "There is no Plan B."
So, if it did fail, the smaller schools would close and the children would be sent to the present Hay School - which has room for 170 children but would be expected to cope with 240, and the headmaster would be on the phone to the County Council asking for more portacabins! The County Council couldn't say that they didn't forsee this problem, because they are the ones closing the other schools, and putting their faith in this high risk scheme.

As a side issue, one lady said that a company (McCartney's?) had approached the County Council with an offer to buy one third of the present school site to build retirement flats on it - they offered one million pounds, but the County Council have not responded to them.

On the matter of engaging with the public, the County Council have been less than forthcoming. So far there have been two press releases, one meeting with the Chamber of Commerce, and one meeting with the Town Council which the town councillors were told to keep secret! This was followed, of course, by the stakeholders' meeting just before Christmas, where only a few groups were allowed to take part (including Plan B and the Chamber of Commerce).

Someone asked about the Sports Association and any history there might be between them and Gaufron. It seems that the dealings go back twenty years. The Sports Association has changed its name several times, and became a registered charity in 2001. That was when the last lot of plans were doing the rounds for a development on Forest Road including the school and community centre. At that time, many people gave money to the fund for the new community centre. In fact, the sports grounds were originally purchased with money from public subscriptions and from the various sports clubs. Land was then sold for the doctors' surgery (to Gaufron Healthcare) and later for the new houses that have been built to one side of the doctors'.
It was pointed out that, although the Sports Association was consulted and was involved in the plans, the actual sports clubs that used the facilities were not involved or consulted - and they really ought to be, since the development plans would involve the loss of a football pitch.

On the community aspect of the whole thing, one lady pointed out that, at Chris Gibbons' funeral recently, the church was packed - and that wouldn't happen for any supermarket employee.
And someone else asked why everything was being moved out of the centre of town up Forest Road anyway.

Coming shortly will be questionnaires to all the residents of Hay and an area about 4 miles around Hay. Oxfam and the Red Cross shop will have copies, and will serve as collection points.

As we came out, more people were coming in for the second meeting of the evening.