Ceredigion County Council has signed off on plans to introduce firm capacity limits, crack down on behaviour, and order the public to remain seated during meetings at its headquarters in Aberaeron citing health and safety concerns.

At a marathon Cabinet meeting last September over the potential closure of four village primary schools, parents, children and campaigners packed the public area of Penmorfa, with the fiery meeting having to be stopped at several points due to interventions from members of the public.

After concerns, councillors have now formalised a capacity for the number of members of public and press attending meetings by signing off on a new protocol during a full council meeting on 12 June.

A report for members said that a “request was received from members of the Democratic Services Committee to produce a draft protocol in relation to members of the public meetings in person at the council chamber in Penmorfa.”

The first draft protocol report was produced just two weeks after that schools meeting.

The new protocol will formalise the amount of space available to the public to a maximum of 25 people and includes a new directive that all members of the public must be seated during the meeting.

The report says that “all members of the public attending a meeting of the Council must be seated, and must not approach or stand in the vicinity of elected Members.”

“Ceredigion County Council reserves the right to refuse entry to those not on the priority list if the council chamber has reached its capacity,” the report adds.

“There are no arrangements for booking a seat in the public area in advance of the meeting, therefore spaces are allocated on a first come, first served basis.”

Council leader Bryan Davies told members that the changes were “important”.

“We’ve had a few meetings where it has been full in the public area,” he said.

“We don’t want to keep the public out, it’s about getting a procedure in order.”

Cllr Elizabeth Evans, chair of the council’s Democratic Services Committee, told the meeting that while the public gallery is usually empty, “there are instances of the chamber overflowing with people”.

“We need to put in controls so it’s a safe environment, safe for the public and councillors aswell,” she said.

Provisions in the protocol also cover the ability to remove members of the public if they enter the non-public areas of the chamber, or if their behaviour “is deemed to be threatening or dangerous” or “if it is deemed that they are interfering with the elected members’ ability to carry out their duties.”

The report says that the “chairperson will use discretion when considering the type of behaviour that is unacceptable” but says that unacceptable behaviour includes disruption of the meeting either physically or verbally; speaking loudly, shouting, clapping or otherwise disrupting the meeting; abuse, harassment or intimidation of Councillors or Officers prior or during the meeting; and distribution of misinformation including malicious communications prior or during the meeting.