A RALLYING cry to protect Welsh communities was made at a packed North Wales meeting on Saturday. Language campaigners Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg claim now is the last chance to sustain Welsh-language communities, which members say could be dead by 2020. At the end of a week-long rally to help halt the threat, more than 150 people turned out at Llyn Celyn near Bala to back the campaigners' cause.. The location, where the village of Capel Celyn was flooded to make a reservoir, was seen as a prime example of a Welsh community losing the right to control its own future. Member Huw Lewis is leading the call for a property act for Wales to make more affordable housing available. He said: "It was a great turn-out and showed just how much support there is in Wales for this cause. "We collected 2,500 names for our petition to the Assembly in towns across Wales. "We were surprised, not by the amount of people backing it, but by the kind of people supporting it; people from across the board. "This is now a political matter and the Assembly should act either by drawing its own measures or by pushing on Westminster to do so. "If the current trend of house prices continues, and Welsh speakers are frozen out, then there will be no Welsh communities left in any time at all." The society claims that, over the next few years, communities across Wales will lose some of their most vital resources, including schools, shops and homes, making them less sustainable. During the week, Cymdeithas yr Iaith members spent nights sleeping rough on Welsh streets to highlight the growing housing crisis. Language lobbyists will present their case to the Assembly in early July, and will hand over the petition in the autumn. Mr Lewis said: "There is a growing realisation among the Welsh population of the extent of this problem. "The decline is not inevitable by any stretch of the imagination. There is still time to act. A property act for Wales is now a complete necessity." | 
