Two senior council officers in Carmarthenshire including the man in charge of education in Carmarthenshire, have been told they may have to clear their desks within days.

Education chief Keith Davies and Tom Williams, who is Director of Economic and Community Development, received notice of redundancy in Friday morning's post.

They have been told their posts are redundant from 31 March.

But if selection of an interim manager is made before that, then their employment will cease on grounds of redundancy on the next working day.

If a committee meeting on Friday afternoon appoints an interim director, they will be out of a job on Monday.

Both are understood to be taking advice on contesting the decision.

The news came just a day after Professor David Reynolds, of Exeter University, described Keith Davies as one of the best education directors in England and Wales.

Mr Davies was one of six applicants for the post of education and community services director, but councillors decided not to consider him.

They said they felt he did not have the necessary skills for the job and they chose a non-Welsh speaking candidate instead.

Appointment delayed

This angered Welsh Language activists and Carmarthenshire Council leaders have since given an assurance that there would be a Welsh-speaking interim director of education for the county.

Last week, members agreed to delay the appointment of a director who did not speak Welsh following demonstrations from an action group.

The authority - in an area with the largest concentration of Welsh speakers in Wales - originally appointed former Kensington and Chelsea education director Michael Stoten to the post.

They had rejected six Welsh-speaking candidates in his favour.