COMMUNITIES near Cardigan will “wither and die” if the proposed closure of four primary schools go ahead, according to a leading councillor.

Cllr Alun Lloyd Jones, the Plaid Cymru member for Llanfarian and a member of the county council’s education scrutiny committee, argued that there would be unintended consequences from the closure of small schools.

The warning comes after the scrutiny committee recommended closing Beulah, Cenarth, Trewern and Llechryd primary schools and establishing a new area school on one of the sites.

The final decision will be taken by Cabinet on Tuesday, 28 November.

Speaking to the Cambrian News this week, Cllr Jones made an economic argument for keeping schools with more than 40 pupils open, and called on the council to calculate the economic costs of closure before making a decision.

“I am against the closure of any small school. It is tearing the heart out of our villages,” said Cllr Jones. “The big schools don’t have the same community spirit.

“The council is always telling us about the costs of keeping the school open, so I asked how much it would cost the community if it closed.

“If you close a school, two or three cooks, cleaners or teachers could be made redundant.

“That economic benefit will be gone out of the system.”

Cllr Jones added: “If you are saying that the heart of the village is the school, you are causing heart attacks and the communities will wither and die on the vine.”

A council spokesperson said: “Following discussions at the Learning Communities Scrutiny Committee, it was agreed to recommend to Cabinet that option 6 would be the preferred option of the committee subject to the availability of capital funding as this option has not been included in the approved 21st Century Schools Band B programme.”

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