Could bilingual Cornish road signs follow the Welsh lead?

Dr Huw Evans

Cornwall Council has requested permission from the UK Government to use bilingual road signs in Cornish and English. This article discusses that request – including placing it in a comparative context with Wales where bilingual Welsh and English road signs have long been part of everyday life.

The request

Cornwall Council argued that bilingual road signs should be permitted because, since the end of 2025, Cornish has been recognised as a minority language under Part III of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (the Charter), alongside Welsh, Manx, Irish and Scottish Gaelic.

The Council’s argument is also grounded in parity of treatment. Bilingual signs are already permitted in Wales and Scotland; and on that basis, Cornwall should be able to adopt a comparable approach for Cornish and English.

In response, a UK Government spokesperson said the government is ‘committed to looking at how we can go further in our support’ for the Cornish language. The spokesperson also stressed that road signs must continue to meet strict criteria so that they remain consistent, clear and safe for road users.

Cornwall Council said that introducing bilingual signs would not require additional council expenditure. New bilingual signs would be introduced only when existing signs were due for replacement.

The legal position

Road signs are devolved in Wales and Scotland, but not in Cornwall. As a result, any change allowing bilingual Cornish and English road signs would need to be made by the UK Government. Wales provides a useful precedent, though, as bilingual road signs were first authorised there before Welsh devolution.

Underpinning the law as a general principle, whether signs are bilingual or monolingual, they must be clear and easy to understand. Public safety requires road signs to meet approved legal standards, including rules on size, shape, colour, layout, wording and legibility. If the use of bilingual signs in Cornwall is approved in principle, the same regulatory framework would need to cover signs using Cornish. The current law is contained in the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016.

Bilingual signs as cultural recognition

Since the 1970s, bilingual Welsh and English road signs have become familiar and widely accepted in Wales, reflecting its bilingual society and visibly expressing Welsh culture.

Even for non-Welsh speakers, the language remains central to Welsh identity, and bilingual signs help sustain its cultural presence.

But the circumstances in Cornwall and Wales differ significantly in relation to speaker numbers.

The Annual Population Survey for the year ending 31 March 2026 estimated that 843,700 people in Wales, or 27.3% of those aged three or over, can speak Welsh. Cornwall Council estimates 400 to 500 advanced Cornish speakers, plus 2,000 to 5,000 people with basic knowledge, in a 2026 population of just over 591,000.

This gap may support claims that too few people speak Cornish to justify bilingual signs.

There are two answers. First, Cornish is a revived language with vitality and momentum, and bilingual signs would support that revival. Second, the case is cultural as well as numerical: language is central to Cornish identity, and Cornwall Council notes its wider presence in place names and family names.

Different routes to bilingual recognition

The historical comparison between Wales’s journey towards bilingual road signs and Cornwall’s current proposal is striking.

In Wales, bilingual signs grew from non-violent campaigns against English-only road signs. Activists sometimes painted over or removed monolingual signs, breaching criminal law but drawing attention to the case for bilingual provision. Cymdeithas yr Iaith was central to this activism.

The campaigns led the Secretary of State for Wales to commission the Bowen Committee Report, whose recommendations brought bilingual road signs to Wales.

A similar campaign today could carry different legal risks, with direct action for language rights now shaped partly by modern terrorism legislation.

That concern has grown since Palestine Action was proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000. Arfon Jones was reported as comparing it with earlier state responses to Welsh-language activism.

Jones recalled that 1970s Cymdeithas yr Iaith campaigners were arrested or imprisoned for non-violent action, but were not, in his words, ‘stigmatised by the British state as terrorists.’

Cornwall has not needed direct action. Its case for Cornish-language signs rests on language rights, rooted in Cornish’s recognition as a minority language under Part III of the Charter.

The language-rights framework now supporting Cornish was not in place when bilingual road signs were first permitted in Wales. Even so, Welsh protest helped secure formal language rights and arguably supported wider recognition of Cornish.

UK Government response

Given Cornish’s recognition under the Charter, alongside Welsh and Scottish Gaelic, it is hard to see how the UK Government could refuse bilingual Cornish and English road signs in principle. Also, existing bilingual signs in Wales and Scotland provide strong precedents.

The UK Government’s reported initial response appears constructive. If permission is granted, the next step will be to design and approve Cornish-English signs. This should be manageable, as Welsh and Scottish Gaelic precedents offer adaptable models.

Anticipating objections

Critics of Cornish-English road signs are likely. In Wales, objections have focused on three concerns: Welsh is seen as less globally relevant than English; bilingualism is said to add unnecessary costs; and bilingual signs are claimed to risk confusion and reduce road safety.

These criticisms can be answered firmly. A language’s value is not measured only by global speaker numbers. Cornwall Council says bilingual signs would be introduced only as existing signs are renewed, limiting cost. And on safety, Cornish-English signs would still have to meet the same strict standards as all road signs.

The wider cultural case

In that wider context, visible recognition of cultural heritage, including minority and revived languages, matters. Bilingual road signs are only one response, but they are an important symbol of respect, belonging and continuity.

Without such measures, languages like Cornish and Welsh remain vulnerable under English dominance. Cornish has already experienced language death once; its revival makes public recognition especially important.

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