AN OPPOSITION councillor has asked why £68m less is forecast to be spent on new schools in Swansea between 2023 and 2026 compared to what had been envisaged.
Cllr Stuart Rice said he wondered if it was because the council had been concentrating on other projects instead.
Cllr Robert Smith, cabinet member for education and learning, said this was not the case but he would like a faster delivery of new schools.
Cllr Rice, of the Uplands Party, looked back at previous council budget papers which set out rolling plans for new schools and school upgrades costing £154.1m over 11 years.
During the first five years, £46.2m was spent on schemes including a new YGG Tan-y-lan, Clase, and Maes Derw, a pupil referral unit in Cockett.
A further £86.7m was due to be spent over the next four years, from 2022-23 to 2025-26 inclusive.
Schools which would benefit included Gowerton comprehensive, Ysgol Bryn Tawe, and special schools YGG Crug Glas and Ysgol Pen-y-Bryn. A new Loughor/Kingsbridge Welsh medium primary school was also identified.
The latest budget papers said it was now more likely that £18m would be spent between 2022-23 to 2025-26 rather than the £86.7m forecast previously.
It’s not unusual for capital projects like new schools to slip behind schedule and it doesn’t mean the money won’t be spent, but costs could rise.
Cllr Rice asked about the spending slippage, as it’s known, at a meeting of full council.
In reply, Cllr Smith said expenditure on new schools fluctuated from year to year as he said Cllr Rice “knows well” from his previous stint as a Liberal Democrat cabinet member.
Cllr Smith said the council had ambitious school-building plans which it was committed to delivering.
“I’m proud of the proposals that we have in this programme,” he said.
Cllr Rice asked why it had slipped so much, and said “everything seems to be jam tomorrow in this programme”.
Cllr Smith said school projects, funded by the Welsh Government and the council, faced obstacles.
He added: “Yes, I want to see this programme delivered a lot faster than it is being delivered but that depends on a lot of factors, including things beyond our control as a council.”
Asked by Cllr Rice if the Labour administration had been concentrating on other capital projects rather than schools, Cllr Smith said he didn’t agree.
Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Rice said: “It is really concerning that the much-needed spend on new schools and schools’ buildings that we were promised keeps slipping away into the future. This needs to be an urgent priority for the council.”
Council leader Rob Stewart said the schools programme inevitably had some years when funding and business cases were being approved ahead of construction taking place.
He said: “Cllr Rice ignores that our capital programme is massively bigger than when he was the Lib-Dem cabinet member for finance.
“The Lib-Dem-led administration he was a part of failed to invest capital sums in new housing, had a very limited economic programme and much smaller eduction capital programme.”
Cllr Stewart said £127.2m had been invested in the schools programme in the past decade.
The Swansea Labour leader added that stage one tenders for a new Ysgol Pen-y-Bryn special school were currently being evaluated, a stage one contract had been awarded for a new block and some remodelling at Ysgol Bryn Tawe, and plans for a new block and some refurbishment at Gowerton comprehensive were due to go out to tender next month.
He added first stage business case approval for a new Bishop Vaughan Catholic School, Morriston, had been awarded by the Welsh Government.
