Mark Hannaby The Politics Show Wales

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There have been angry protests against the closure plans

A fall in birth rate has caused 70,000 surplus places in Welsh schools, empty classrooms and a surplus in running costs.

In Cardiff the problem costs taxpayers �3m a year, but the Liberal Democrat Council's attempt to tackle it has fallen at the first hurdle.

The Executive proposed to close seventeen schools and amalgamate ten more, raising �300m to invest in new sites and upgrade the rest.

The plans resulted in howls of outrage from parents and opposition from other political parties and have been voted down by opposition Councilliors.

Conservative Education Spokesperson Cllr Linda Owens said: "There were many flaws in the plan.

"There were many schools, excellent schools, that were earmarked for closure and that did not make any sense at all."

So where will the authority go from here?

Every political party on the Council agrees that doing nothing about the problem isn't an option.

Councillors across political groupings will need to work together to broadly agree on an alternative plan.

Labour Group Leader Cllr Greg Owens said: "It is certainly not going to be easy for any community, whatever the political complexion of it is.

"It is not going to be easy when school closures occur.

"We have to make some tricky decisions and we are going to have to consult very carefully with our communities."

Those Cardiff schools which had been earmarked for closure or amalgamation still face an uncertain future.

Rhys Williams of the National Union of Teachers in Wales fears that just being named in the Council's plan may have done damage to the schools concerned.

He said: "We felt that ultimately the schools named would be the schools closed because over the next year, two years, three years, parents would move their children from those schools, and teachers who wanted to further their careers would decide to move on."

Not all parents are pleased the Executive's proposals have been rejected.

Parents in the campaign group "Bloedd" ("Shout") are angry that there are not enough Welsh Medium Education places for their children in Cardiff.

Recognising the problem, the Council's plan had included the building of three new Welsh-medium schools as well as an expansion of existing sites.

Rachel McGuinness of "Bloedd" said: "They were hoping to open up one, maybe two, new schools in this area, which would sort of ease the problem of the growth in this particular area of Cardiff.

"Obviously with this u-turn now that's not going to happen - or not for the foreseeable future. So it puts us in a quandary.

"There is not enough Welsh medium education in this area, so what are the Council going to do about it?"

It is one of many unresolved questions.

Whatever might be proposed in any forthcoming "Plan B" it seems certain that disputes about the future of education in Cardiff are going to run and run.

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