Campaigners are set to protest against possible cuts to Welsh language immersion centres ahead of a crucial Cabinet meeting.

As part of planned cuts to help balance the books following the loss of Welsh Government grant funding, Gwynedd council is planning to slash the available funding for its immersion centres by £96,000 from September – which could see one of the centres close or the facilities staffed by fewer teachers.

A decision is expected by the council Cabinet on 2 April, which comes just weeks after the full council passed a motion objecting to any cuts which would have a “harmful impact” on the service provided.

The centres offer intensive language sessions for children from other parts of the UK and abroad who move into the county unable to speak Welsh, so that they are at least partially fluent when joining their local school.

At present, the five centres are based in Dolgellau, Llangybi, Maesincla, Penrhyndeudraeth and Porthmadog.

But according to pressure group Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, the centres have the ability to “change people’s lives” and have an “extremely positive” impact on the language.

As a result, members will hold a protest on Caernarfon’s Maes on Saturday, 30 March, less than a week before the fate is decided.

In a letter to the council leader, the wife of a man who moved to Talysarn from Kent in the early 90s warned that any cuts would be “very damaging”.

Marcus Smith was intensively taught Welsh in the Llangybi language centre after his family moved from to Talysarn in the early nineties.

“Thanks to this centre and its staff, Marcus is now living his life in Welsh and speaks it naturally with his children,” Annest Smith, who will also speak during the protest, wrote in her letter to Cllr Dyfrig Siencyn.

“Without attending the language centre, this would almost certainly not be the case.

“As you know, we are a Welsh-only speaking family in the house, and Marcus is a part of a rural agricultural community in Meirionnydd.”

The protest will be held on Caernarfon’s Maes from 11.30am tomorrow, before the Cabinet meets, also in Caernarfon, on Tuesday, 2 April at 1pm.

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