Hundreds at school plans meeting

Those present voted unanimously to ask councillors to reject the proposals.

The council has put forward plans to close 29 schools, creating federal schools, and to build eight new ones.

The authority says it follows a dramatic fall in pupil numbers over the past two decades, and that it needs to make the best use of its facilities.

Councillors will discuss the proposals on 13 December at a full council meeting in Caernarfon.

Councillor Simon Glyn, who has left Plaid Cymru in protest at the proposed changes, chaired the meeting at Botwnnog.

He said he would be voting against the re-shuffle document when it came before the full council.

"I'm uncomfortable with elements of the document before us and until I get answers to some of my questions I am uncertain which way I'll vote"
Councillor Liz Saville Roberts,

Mr Glyn said he could not understand why other councillors were finding it hard to make a similar decision.

"What's difficult about the decision if communities are insisting that their schools are protected along with the high standard of education their children receive," he said.

"The report suggests that these changes will save £1.5m, but to be honest there are other better ways to find savings.

"If we are going to invest in any service in Gwynedd, then education should be at the very forefront of the agenda in my opinion," he added.

Plaid Cymru councillor Liz Saville Roberts, from Morfa Nefyn, said the decision facing her was the most difficult one she had had to make in her political career.

"I feel tension between the people who voted for me and my responsibility to the county," she said.

"What I'm going to do is go out and ask people want they want," she said.

Seeking opinion

It was, she added, difficult sometimes to stand up and voice an opinion in public at a meeting.

"Maybe I'm digging a hole for myself by doing this, but I plan to ask the opinion of people who understand the problems we are facing.

"The birth rate is falling in Britain and in Wales, that is a fact, even if we don't like it.

"But I'm uncomfortable with elements of the document before us and until I get answers to some of my questions I am uncertain which way I'll vote," she added.

One parent leaving the meeting told BBC Radio Cymru that she realised that something needed to be done to primary school education in the county but the council was taking things too far, whilst another said she thought any change which potentially affected children's education was a step too far.

RELATED INTERNET LINKS
Gwynedd County Council
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites