On a recent trip to Pentip Primary School in Llanelli, local AM Lee Waters met with pupils to gather their views on how they would improve the town, as part of his #ThinkBigLlanelli online project.During the visit, the AM was given a tour of the premises by Headteacher Anthony Thomas and met with staff before taking part in a school assembly discussion on litter and tackling congestion caused by the school run.
The Llanelli AM also chaired a meeting of the school council who were eager to talk about what they would do differently to make Llanelli a cleaner, safer and more enjoyable place to live.
Ideas ranged from encouraging more pupils to walk to school and tackling litter as a community by raising awareness of the impact amongst their friends and family.
Pupils’ suggestions will be fed into the #ThinkBig website. Located at www.leeforllanelli.wales/thinkbig, Llanelli residents are able to access the site, post their own ideas and take part in the wider discussion on what needs to change in the town.
Lee Waters AM said:
“I was genuinely impressed by what pupils had to say. As we all know children are brutally honest when asked for their opinion on something, and it’s refreshing to hear what the younger generation wants out of our town.
“I’m in complete agreement with the main points they raised, traffic congestion in particular. One pupil in particular told me how confused he was as to why we keep trying to solve the issue by building more roads, instead of encouraging alternate methods of transport – a child after my own heart.
“Unfortunately I hear the same concerns at most schools I visit, but at least this tells us that the problems are immediately apparent and ready to be tackled”
Headteacher Anthony Thomas said:
“The children thoroughly enjoyed Lee’s visit to the school and were very keen to discuss local issues. The Eco Committee are passionate about pollution and safer routes to school. They are very keen to encourage everyone to use their cars less, to walk more, to use their bikes and scooters safely and to develop car sharing (where possible) to and from school.”
“Lee was kind enough to invite us to Cardiff so we’re looking forward to getting a grand tour of the Senedd later this year.”
