Gwynedd Welsh language immersion centre cuts deferred

More than 100 people staged a demonstration in Caernarfon at the weekend in support of the centres

Plans to cut nearly £100,000 from Welsh language immersion centres in Gwynedd have been deferred for a year.

They offer intensive tuition for children moving to Gwynedd from outside the county to ensure they can cope with school lessons taught in Welsh.

Opponents had feared cuts would mean one of the five centres closing or staff cuts across all of them.

Councillors agreed to try a 12-month pilot of reduced staffing at one centre to see if standards suffered.

The Welsh Government said it welcomed the decision and urged the council "to think very carefully before changing a system that clearly works".

The centres at Dolgellau, Llangybi, Caernarfon, Penrhyndeudraeth and Porthmadog have welcomed more than 7,000 children since being established 35 years ago, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

But Gwynedd Council said it was facing cuts in Welsh Government grant aid for educational improvements, alongside increasing costs for teachers' salaries and pensions.

A reduced staffing pilot was agreed after a report to the cabinet noted that the Dolgellau centre had been "very successful" despite operating with just one teacher and an assistant since 2002.

• Gwynedd residents face 5.8% tax increase

• English-medium pupils to learn more Welsh

• 'Ambitious' Welsh speakers target

Gareth Thomas, who is stepping down as cabinet member for education, claimed the council was being forced into making "back door cuts".

Councillor Dilwyn Morgan said he could not support the closure of any centres, claiming Gwynedd "needed more and not fewer of them".

Annest Smith said the Llangybi language centre had helped her husband Marcus live his life in Welsh

Annest Smith, whose husband Marcus moved to Talysarn from Kent in the early 1990s, said he was "now living his life in Welsh" thanks to support from the centres.

"They are essential to the survival of the language in the county and beyond," she said.

Gwion Emyr, from the Welsh language campaign group Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, said such centres were "essential" if the Welsh Government was to meet its declared target of a million Welsh speakers by 2050 - almost double the current figure.

A Welsh Government spokesman said: "The immersion centres in Gwynedd are world leading, and have been instrumental in supporting the local education system.

"It is a local matter for Gwynedd County Council to decide how they prioritise funding at a local level, however we would urge the council to think very carefully before changing a system that clearly works."