Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education – in the Senedd at 1:49 pm on 7 March 2018.
Thank you for that reply. The policy of school reorganisation and the creation of the centralisation of superschools, particularly in Neath Port Talbot and across Wales, has caused some concern, particularly with the potential closure of Cymer Afan Comprehensive School in my region. It's particularly acute in relation to the Active Travel (Wales) Act 2013, and it's going against that, because if the school closes they will be having to travel 50 minutes to reach the closest school. So, when we had a public meeting on this recently, people were saying that this would add stress to the lives of the children, and that it would contravene the very sustainability of that particular Act. I acknowledge you can't look into this particular issue in and of itself, but what is your view, if a school closes and if then, therefore, more transport is created, more pressure on schoolchildren is created—what do you do in relation to the well-being of those children to try and aid them in the development of their education, as opposed to hindering them, as many of the parents believe in this particular circumstance?