Funding cutbacks have forced Ceredigion CAB to close its Aberystywth office and focus its services in Cardigan.

The organisation was formed four years ago when the Cardigan and Aberystwyth bureaus joined together.

The charity deals with over 12,000 enquiries a year.

At a board meeting last month, trustees decided to develop a 'hub and spoke' model of delivering services with the Cardigan office - which is owned by CAB - being the hub.

Chairman Cllr Paul Hinge said: "After looking at many scenarios the decision was to close our Aberystwyth office as a permanent building but still operate our services within Aberystwyth area utilising other agencies.

Our offices in Cardigan will become our hub and all existing outreach venues will still continue."

The Bureau staff are busy working with partners to deliver an operational model for the Aberystwyth area after the office closes in June.

Cllr Hinge added: "We have had to make some hard decisions regarding how we deliver services for Ceredigion but with diminishing funding and the unfortunate circumstances that Welsh Government don't recognise rural poverty or deprivation in their funding formulas for grant aid, we cannot access the many grants that are available now to the urban areas of Wales. As a Bureau we are open for business and will continue to provide services in Ceredigion to the best of our abilities....of course the flip side of this decision may well mean more demands on our elected representatives including our AM and MP, but with the need for annual core funding in the region of £150,000 to deliver as we do now and our grant/donation funding being reduced to circa £70,000 we had to make hard decisions."