2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:54 pm on 7 May 2019.

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Photo of Neil McEvoy Neil McEvoy Independent 2:54, 7 May 2019

I’d like a statement from the Welsh Government on the proposed closure of two Welsh-medium schools in Pontypridd. Labour Rhondda Cynon Taf wants to close ysgol Pont Siôn Norton and ysgol Heol-y-Celyn to build a bigger Welsh-medium school miles away—miles away—from pupils. There are children as young as three years of age who will be expected to travel up to six miles to go to school. It's extremely difficult for parents getting the children to the school. I'm told by some it'll be an impossibility. So, what we have here, despite the target of a million speakers, is a Labour council putting up barriers to working-class communities accessing the Welsh language in their own communities. Schools are more than bricks and mortar; they're building blocks of communities, and what is happening here in Rhondda Cynon Taf is an absolute disgrace. So, I'd like to know what the Government has to say about it.