A schools shake-up will force families on the Shropshire/Welsh border to choose between their community and culture and lead to ‘artificial social engineering’, it has been claimed.

Peter Lewis, Powys county councillor for Llanfyllin, said the changes, backed by the authority’s cabinet, will lead to the ‘slow demise of the Welsh language’.

But council chiefs have refuted the claim, saying the shake-up demonstrates a ‘real commitment to fund Welsh medium education in Powys’.

The cabinet agreed on Tuesday to alter post-16 education and the changes will see Llanfyllin High School pupils no longer able to take Welsh-medium A-level subjects. Students will have to go to Llanfair Caereinion.

Councillor Lewis said: “The idea of making young people and their families have to choose between their community or their culture is fundamentally wrong.”

Councillor Stephen Hayes said the changes enabled the council to provide a wider choice of A-level subjects through the Welsh medium.