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School
Heol Goffa still over capacity, new school aimed at 2029
132 children in a building built for 118. Estyn said rooms were too small for wheelchairs. The replacement is 35 million pounds, next to Pen Rhos, opening if the money and the planning hold, in September 2029.
Ysgol Heol Goffa is the only standalone special school in Carmarthenshire. It takes pupils from three to 19 with severe learning difficulties or profound and multiple learning difficulties, from the whole county. It has been over its 118 places every year for five years. In January there were 132 on the roll. Cost per pupil, given the support required, is put at 29,595 pounds a year.
Estyn inspected in November 2025 and published in January. Inspectors found several parts of the building no longer fit for purpose, classrooms too tight for pupils to move, especially wheelchair users, and facilities out of date. A new school was first talked about in 2017. A 120 place scheme was dropped in 2024 on cost, which put parents on the street. Cabinet came back this year with 150 places on council land beside the new Ysgol Pen Rhos, about three to four miles from the present site, with use of the hydrotherapy pool at Pentre Awel next door.
The money and the wait
The bill is 35 million pounds. Welsh Government is supposed to put in 75 percent, the county 25. That 75 percent is better than the usual 65 and was signalled under the last education minister, subject to a business case. Llanelli MP Dame Nia Griffith has written to the new education minister, Anna Brychan, asking her to lock it in. Cllr Glynog Davies, cabinet member for education, has said he is confident the money will come and that there has been no change of plan. Campaigners who remember the 2024 cancellation still talk about a hole in the budget until the grant letter exists.
Cabinet backed the consultation on 1 June. Families had until 21 July to write to Owain Lloyd, director of education, or use the survey. Next come a statutory notice, an objection report and a full council decision spoken of for March 2027, then planning and the Welsh Government business case. Llanelli Town Council welcomed the commitment and called 2029 too slow given how long the children have already waited.
What the present school is doing now
Until 2029 the 132 stay in the building Estyn criticised. Moving three or four miles will help some families and lengthen the run for others. Capacity of 150 is 32 above today’s roll, 32 above the old 118, and 30 above the scheme that died in 2024. That is the number the county is selling. It is not a building yet.
The Chronicle will report the statutory notice, the objection report, and whether the 75 percent grant is in writing before anyone treats September 2029 as a start date.