SERIOUS concerns have been raised over plans to shut two rural schools.
Conwy County Council’s education and skills overview and scrutiny committee has not supported proposals for the closure of two rural primary schools, following a vote ahead of next week’s cabinet meeting.
At June’s committee meeting, members considered proposals to close both Ysgol Ysbyty Ifan and Ysgol Betws y Coed, following a public consultation on the schools’ future.
On Ysgol Ysbyty Ifan, members voted five in favour to three against not recommending closure, with eight abstentions. Those voting against the position were Cllr Paul Luckock, Cllr Simon Croft, and Jack Smith-Keegin.
On Ysgol Betws y Coed, members also voted in favour of not recommending closure, with eight in favour, six abstentions, and two against. Voting against were Cllr Paul Luckock and Jack Smith-Keegin.
The recommendations now move forward ahead of a final decision by the cabinet, which will decide whether to issue statutory notices on the proposed school closures at a meeting next week. Both schools have just 14 pupils.
Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Liz Roberts said: “We seriously have to look at the provision of rural schools in more depth. We know we’ve got falling numbers, but we just can’t keep randomly closing schools. We’ve got to seriously look at this as an authority.”
She went on to say the situation had been “driven” by the federating governing body – Capel Coed-Elan Federation Schools – being “told” by the council “that they had to identify a school for closure” from the three under its control. Those three schools are Ysgol Betws y Coed, Ysgol Dolwyddelan and Ysgol Capel Garmon.
Cllr Roberts said this “raised questions” about the process being “genuinely open, balanced, or democratic”.
She added: “What has resulted is a situation where each village has effectively been set against the other, each trying to protect its own school.”
Cllr Roberts then raised the idea of Ysgol Betws y Coed becoming an area school for wider communities. But Cllr Paul Luckock, who has long advocated for closures of schools with dwindling numbers, disagreed.
He said: “I’ve argued since 2022 that the political choice that should have been taken was to have a strategy for the rationalisation of rural primary schools. I’ve been in a very small minority on that from 2022.
“If we do not look at the facts, if we do not look at the hard conclusions that are in this report and the difficult decisions we have to take, we are just compounding the problems that we as a local authority and all the rural communities will have going forward.”
Speaking on Ysgol Betws y Coed, Cllr David Carr said: “It comes back to choice for me, and choice does cost, but we can look to the future to try and better that school, to put the investment in and to attract people in the future.”
Cllr Simon Croft then backed up the idea of Ysgol Betws y Coed becoming an “area school”, following the proposal being mentioned by Cllr Liz Roberts.
He said: “I think Betws y Coed would be an excellent candidate for an area school, to be rebuilt as the area school, taking in Capel Garmon, Penmachno…”
Chairing the meeting, Cllr Gwennol Ellis interrupted, asking him to retract his statement and not name any other schools in the discussions.
Cllr Croft added that “all of the schools in the area” were “well under the 75% that the Welsh Government is looking for”, adding he regretted the closures had got to “this stage before considering a rural schools strategy”.
He added: “We’ve got the cart before the horse in my book.” Cllr Ellis then apologised for any community that was named by Cllr Croft.
Cllr Goronwy Edwards then accused the council of taking decisions and “salami slicing” schools, adding he’d “lost two primary schools” in his area during his time as a councillor.
He added: “I think this committee should really visit the schools. I don’t know how many members in this committee actually know the locations of the schools.
“I think it is such an important decision for the future of education, the committee should go around and visit these rural areas and see the locations, the topography, and everything else.”
The proposals follow a public consultation which ran from November 28, 2025, to January 9, 2026, and saw strong opposition to closure in responses for both schools, alongside wider concerns around rural sustainability, Welsh language, transport, wellbeing, and the impact on local communities.
A petition with over 900 signatures was also handed to the council opposing the closure of Ysgol Betws y Coed.
Estyn has previously said there appeared to be “minimal evidence” that the council had sufficiently considered the impact on pupils’ learning and wellbeing – although the inspectorate also acknowledged the authority had provided a rationale based on low pupil numbers, surplus places, and financial pressures.
A final decision is due to be made by cabinet at the authority’s Coed Pella HQ on Tuesday, June 9.
