Call to halt school closure talks

The schools closure plan has attracted large protests

A protest group has called on Gwynedd Council to halt consultations on small school closures until after local government elections in May.

Llais y Bobl (The People's Voice) says it intends contesting seats in the local election, in a bid to stop the school reorganisation plan.

The proposals would see 29 primary schools close and other sites merge.

But Dyfed Wyn Edwards, who holds the council education portfolio, said consultation should push ahead.

In December, 600 people protested outside the council meeting which agreed to put the schools plan up for discussion across the county.

Mr Edwards insisted that the process the council has embarked on was "open and honest" and had been supported across party boundaries.

It's therefore a blatant waste of public money to hold further consultation meetings at this stage in time Councillor Seimon Glyn

"The path that took us up to the full council meeting was a very lengthy and democratic process," said Mr Edwards in response to the demand from Llais y Bobl.

"The full council then voted for it. The decision was to take the schools document out to consultation.

"I'm not sure what the basis is then for saying that we should stop the decision process."

Llais y Bobl argued that if won enough support, the closure programme would be dropped.

Councillor Seimon Glyn, who resigned from Plaid Cymru over the issue said: "It's therefore a blatant waste of public money to hold further consultation meetings at this stage in time."

Surplus places

Under the proposals, 29 primary schools will close entirely, while 11 "area" schools will be created, and a further 18 merged to become federal schools on separate sites but under a single head teacher.

Council leaders have said the programme is to address 2,400 surplus primary school places across Gwynedd.

Mr Edwards said he believed the demand from Llais y Bobl was purely politically motivated.

"There seems to be mixed messages," he said.

"They have said that the status quo in Gwynedd is not a option, they agree with that. But they won't say which schools should close."