Cymdeithas yr Iaith has submitted a formal complaint to the Welsh Government's Education Secretary over Ceredigion council's decision to push ahead with a consultation on the closure of three rural schools.

The Welsh language campaigners say the Plaid Cymru-run council has not fulfilled its statutory duties and that they expect the consultation to be deemed 'invalid.

In the letter to Lynne Neagle MS, Cymdeithas claims that the council has not fulfilled its statutory duties in failing to follow the directives in the Welsh Government's School Organization Code, which states that a local authority must start the process with a presumption in favour of maintaining schools that are on its list to be protected.

Consultations have already opened on the closure of Ysgol Llangwyryfon, Ysgol Craig-yr Wylfa in Y Borth and Ysgol Syr John Rhys, Ponterwyd this week, and the council will spend 28 days discussing with the Church in Wales on Ysgol Llanfihangel-y-Creuddyn before conducting a similar public consultation on it.

Ffred Ffransis, on behalf of the Cymdeithas yr Iaith’s Education Group, explained: "When introducing the new edition of the Code in 2018, Kirsty Williams, minister responsible for education at the time, said that a local authority should only propose to close a rural school on the list after considering all alternative options.

"In a meeting with Cymdeithas yr Iaith last month, the current Education Secretary, Lynne Neagle MS, emphasised that this should be a conscientious and careful process, not "just ticking boxes", and the Government's Director of Welsh Language and Education added that "presumption against closing rural schools means presumption against closing rural schools."

Mr Ffransis added: "But Ceredigion Council has acted completely contrary to this. In January and February this year, the council decided to target £335k of savings to their budget by closing a number of schools.

"This amounts to a practical presumption in favour of closing rural schools, not a presumption against.

"The council believes that it can fulfil its statutory duties to consider all other options by referring to some alternative options and repeating generic sentences to reject for each of the four schools and asking people to respond with any other options. But the Code clearly states "Case law has determined that the consultative process should be carried out when proposals are still at a formative stage", not after the council has proposed closing the schools.

"This is the law, and this is the first of four principles that the Code says that Local Authorities must follow.

"As a result of our complaint, we expect the Education Secretary to declare that the consultation is invalid, or it will make the principle of presumption against closing rural schools meaningless.

"Still, it is important that governors, parents and local communities responding to the consultation papers to correct facts and in order to show how important the schools are to them and to maintain rural Welsh communities"

Despite Ceredigion County Council sending an invitation to respond to the consultation to relevant parties, the consultations are not included under the ‘open consultations’ section of its website currently.