After threatening to sue school governors for defamation over allegations that Cabinet members were lied to by council chiefs on whether process was followed in drawing up of closure plans for four village schools in Ceredigion, council chiefs have now turned their sights on councillors who have joined calls for an independent review as fallout from the saga continues.

A Ceredigion County Council decision to launch statutory consultations into plans to close Ysgol Llanfihangel y Creuddyn, Ysgol Craig yr Wylfa, Ysgol Llangwyryfon, and Ysgol Syr John Rhys was reversed in December following formal challenges and a row over how the process was carried out.

During Cabinet discussions on the closures at a fiery meeting in September last year, Barry Rees, Corporate Director of Ceredigion County Council, told members that council officers had a “period of contacting Welsh Government” when drafting the reports on the potential school closures to check “content and the process that was followed.”

“Both of those issues have had a seal of approval by Welsh Government,” he told members.

The line was repeated by the Chief Executive Eifion Evans later in the meeting.

“At the end of the day, Welsh Government has given us confirmation that what we are doing is correct,” he said.

However, in a letter seen by the Cambrian News, the Welsh Government denied providing approval or endorsement to the plans.

In December, Chairs of governors from the four schools were then threatened with being sued for defamation and being removed from their positions by Ceredigion County Council over their call for the authority to launch an independent investigation after saying they were “deeply concerned that the damage done to our schools is the direct result of misrepresentations made by Barry Rees and Eifion Evans.”

Instead of launching an independent investigation, however, Ceredigion County Council carried out an ‘internal review’ which found that there was no case to answer for Mr Evans and Mr Rees as well as monitoring officer Elin Prysor, another heated meeting on 19 March heard.

The school governors had called for the investigation to be independent as there would be “no confidence in an internal investigation”.

The meeting of Ceredigion County Council’s Ethics and Standards Committee saw senior officers dismiss councillors backing governors in calling to hold an independent investigation, with Mr Rees saying he would “seek advice” if one went ahead because he has “had enough”.

While some councillors accepted the results of the council’s internal review, others remained steadfast in the need for an independent investigation due to the “significant lack of confidence from the people of Ceredigion for the council to investigate this matter honestly, openly and transparently.”

Cllr Euros Davies asked whether an independent review should be held to “clear names” of officers and show it was “squeaky clean.”

Mr Rees responded saying: “What you are saying there is that the cross party panel’s decision isn’t good enough.

“If I go for a job somewhere else, there could be a shadow against my name and maybe I wouldn’t get that job.

“That’s professional damages.

“If you went ahead with another review, I would seek advice.

“You get to a point when you have to have to defend yourself.

“And my personal situation this last seven months has been fragile because of nonsense.

“I’ve had enough.”

Eifion Evans added: “If you as councillors feel the evidence isn’t enough, then show your evidence.”

Cllr Gwyn Wigley Evans, a governor for Ysgol Llangwyryfon read out a letter to the meeting from Cllr Hugh Hughes, who is a governor of Craig y Wylfa in Borth.

Cllr Hughes’ letter said: “At a workshop [a behind closed doors meeting] in January, Bryan Davies [Ceredigion County Council Leader] expressed the view that he wanted to see a line drawn under the matter.

“You may recall that I disagreed completely with this and quoted to him a phrase from members of the public regarding how angry people were about the consultation.

“As a result of this, I have been interviewed three times by the monitoring officer.

“I do not recall that there was agreement at the meeting as to the conduct of officers during the cabinet meeting on 3 September.

“Given my extensive investigatory experience in policing professional regulatory bodies and bullying and harassment in public services, I have grave concerns about the accuracy of the report being presented to you today.

“There is a significant lack of confidence from the people of Ceredigion for the council to investigate this matter honestly, openly and transparently.

“Therefore I respectfully request that there is a need for an independent inquiry into the whole process undertaken by the council to propose to consult on the closure of four schools and comments made by officers at the September cabinet meeting.

“Only then do I believe that we will be able to start earning and regaining public trust.”

Liberal Democrat leader and Aberaeron councillor, Elizabeth Evans, told the meeting she was ‘absolutely satisfied’ with the result of the internal review finding no case to answer, adding ‘officers have behaved with complete integrity’.

This view was supported by Plaid Cymru councillor, Amanda Edwards of Beulah and Llangoedmor.

The four governing body chairs: Paul Anthony Davies from Ysgol Llanfihangel y Creuddyn; Carol Bainbridge from Ysgol Craig yr Wylfa; Nudd Lewis from Ysgol Llangwyryfon; and Huw Morris from Ysgol Syr John Rhys were all told in a letter sent by solicitor Mark Powell KC on behalf of Ceredigion County Council’s cabinet that the claims they made “served to seriously damage the personal and professional integrity of officers of the council,” adding the accusations were “defamatory in nature”, and render them “liable for a claim for substantial damages for defamation.”

A group of Borth residents who lodged a formal complaint to the council over officer conduct at the September meeting have since confirmed that their complaint has been sent on to the Ombudsman.

At the meeting in December where the decision to move ahead with the closures in 2025 was reversed, Cabinet members heard that “no evidence of misconduct” had been found over allegations of council dishonesty over plans to shut the four schools, but councillors warned that the council has “lost faith with the public” over how it dealt with the planned closures.

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

Ceredigion council wanted to shut the four schools from September 2025 as they are “not financially viable.”

The closures would save the council around £200,000 a year.

The plans were met with outrage and protests by parents, communities and Welsh language campaigners.

Cymdeithas yr Iaith submitted a formal complaint to the Welsh Government’s Education Secretary over the council’s “failure to follow the directives in the Welsh Government’s School Organisation Code.”

A report for the December meeting heard that “the current timeline for the reorganisation process is not achievable” and can’t be implemented, but did not take the closure of the four schools off the table.

The consultations on the closures continued - instead labelled as ‘informal’ - with the results of set to be brought back before Cabinet.

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

Issue has also been taken with the minutes of the meeting, which state: “The complaint had been received and released to the local press at the same time, who published an article under the headline of “pants on fire””.

This is not correct.

The Cambrian News was informed that a complaint had been submitted by members of the community, but not its content.

The Cambrian News also saw copies of correspondence between Ceredigion County Council and the Welsh Government, which are available to view here.