Cabinet members have heard that “no evidence of misconduct” has been found over allegations of council dishonesty over plans to shut four small rural schools in Ceredigion, but councillors have warned that the council has “lost faith with the public” over how it dealt with the planned closures, which have been delayed for now.

Plans to shut Ysgol Craig yr Wylfa in Borth, Ysgol Llanfihangel y Creuddyn, Ysgol Llangwyryfon, and Ysgol Syr John Rhys in Ponterwyd will now not go ahead next year after a “legal challenge” against the move was made which meant the “current timeline for the reorganisation process is not achievable.”

In September, Ceredigion County Council cabinet members voted to launch statutory consultations on shutting the doors of the four “unviable” village primary schools in August next year.

The decision was followed by allegations of lying from officers and council chiefs, reported in the Cambrian News, over the process, how it was undertaken, and whether it complied with the Welsh Government’s Schools Reorganisation Code which calls for the presumption of keeping smaller rural schools open.

A Cabinet meeting on 3 December voted to give the schools a stay of execution, and they will now not close in 2025.

Leader Brian Davies, told members there had been a “legal challenge” to the plans, and said the Welsh Government code that deals with school closures was “not the easiest to understand.”

Cllr Elizabeth Evans said that all she wants is that any Cabinet decision “can hold up to scrutiny” and that all councillors need to be “walked through the process” so they know the decision made was “safe”.

Chief Executive Eifion Evans said that all officers had worked “conscientiously and honestly” on the plans.

He said he had received “no evidence” of “any kind of misconduct.”

Mr Evans said that the Welsh Government code is “difficult” and “complex” and is currently “unclear”.

“I do hope that the review of the code going on in Cardiff will clarify the situation as at the moment it results in uncertainly and bad feelings in the schools,” he said.

Cllr Rhodri Davies said the consultation decisions had been “tainted” and should be “taken completely off the table.”

Gareth Lloyd called for the process to be scrapped and told members that “the public are losing faith in the council” over this situation and a series of failures over consultations on Aberystwyth promenade.

“People are losing faith in how we deal with things and we need to get that back,” he said.

“It erodes the faith of the public, and whatever we say now, people won’t believe us.”

Borth councillor Hugh Hughes said that it is “time to draw a line under this” and allow the schools to “recover” from the “harm caused.”

“I’ve been in public life for over years and I don’t think I’ve ever been in an organisation that has a total lack of trust currently with the public,” he said.

Ceredigion County Council wants to shut the four schools as they are “not financially viable.”

Members heard that it is “accepted that the current timeline for the reorganisation process is not achievable, and therefore the [previous Cabinet] decision is not deemed to be capable of implementation.”

Cabinet members voted to approve a recommendation to treat the ongoing statutory consultations as an informal consultation on the future of the schools and any reorganisation.

A further report will now be presented to Cabinet after considering the response to the now informal consultation.

Any further proposals on closing the schools will be presented to Cabinet “in due course”, the report said.