Bid to build social housing prompts concerns over ‘harm’ to Welsh language
Dale Spridgeon, local democracy reporter
Plans to build 16 homes to rent have sparked concerns over a potential for ‘substantial harm’ to the Welsh language.
But the council’s Welsh language unit insist the social housing development, near Caernarfon would help boost the use of the language.
Cyngor Gwynedd will consider a full planning application for 16 residential units, with associated access, parking and landscaping on a site at Dinas, in the Llanwnda ward area, on Monday, February 3. A decision will be sought to “delegate the right to the assistant head of the environment department to approve the application”.
Proposals for homes on the site were initially made three years ago but the proposals have seen amendments. The land is opposite an outdoor activities retail outlet and garage on the A487, and beside a property called Talardd. The Welsh Highland Railway passes on one side and the road at the front.
The proposals were submitted by Beech Developments NW Ltd, through agent, Sioned Edwards of Cadnant Planning. Once built, the homes would be in the ownership/management of Adra a registered social housing landlord.
Car park
The site was recently used an an informal car park following the demolition of a restaurant and has been empty since the completion of another Adra estate. The latest scheme prompted a strong response from the Llanwnda Community Council.
The council expressed concern at the “relocation of many people who do not speak Welsh to live in the most Welsh of communities, without a system in place for them to assimilate or to support the Welsh language communities to cope”. The community council called for the project to be refused at an extraordinary meeting in December, 2024.
The council said the development would be “contrary to the strategic aim of Llanwnda Community Council of protecting and increasing the use made of the Welsh language. Over 80% of the local population speak Welsh, and therefore the area is significant in terms of use of the Welsh language.
“The communities with a high number of Welsh speakers are becoming scarce, and therefore it is vital that we protect them…,” the council added. Cyngor Gwynedd’s Welsh Language Unit however felt the proposal would actually have “a minor positive impact on the Welsh language in the area”. A report by the applicant noted that 94% of the residents of the nearby Adra development, the Gwel y Foel estate, were Welsh speakers.
“This percentage is much higher than the percentage for the Llanwnda ward at 81%. The majority of the application site is located within the development boundary of the village, with only a small area outside the boundary,” the agent added.
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They have a right to be concerned. What happens with these new developments is that they stay true to their promise of filling the houses with Welsh speaking tenants, but what they don’t tell you is that a high percentage of those tenants are simply moved there from other social housing. Those empty houses the leave are in turn filled by people from over the border, usually with drug or alcohol issues or on some witness protection scheme. It has already happened in Gwynedd, in a strong Welsh speaking area.
Happens throughout Wales from Chepstow to Cilgerran. Fact
What about Welsh education? Most middle class Welsh children will do well just like most English middle class children will do well. Most working class Welsh children will not. The PISA studies show that Wales for over 20 years is well below average on the league tables globally. Welsh education is worse than that of a third world country – even Sri Lanka where children attend school with no shoes fair better.
I want to see evidence that Wales cares about the children they educate here more than the middle class Welsh families they protect.
Propping up the class system in Wales is more transparent than in England.
Whether it’s Welsh, Swahili, English, or Urdu, everyone needs a roof over their head! Different if all of Wales was Welsh speaking, but that just is’nt so. From the comments, I wonder how many have ever left their own village? Times have moved on, and so has the population of Wales. We cannot go back to pre 1960’s, and no one has the right to refuse anyone a roof over their head simply because they don’t speak Welsh. Imagine if this was put forward in any other part of the UK; there would be outrage & calls of ‘ Racism’,… Read more »
Time has moved on Yes.Yet Norway, Iceland, Denmark countries with very small populations have managed to retain their languages.This even aplies to the Baltic Nations post Independence, and during the days of the Soviet Union these Nations were very much under Russian influence Politically and Linguistically.
Completely agree. For years Cardiff has been one of a number of towns and cities accepting dispersed asylum seekers. Many of these speak no English yet there are schemes in place to help them learn. My mother was from Caernarfon, Welsh speaking, but completely fluent in English. In a time when housing is scarce it is discriminatory to say you can only move here if you speak Welsh. If other parts of Wales accept “incomers”, for want of a better word, why shouldn’t Gwynedd?
Ah, so people in need of social housing couldn’t possibly also be Welsh speakers…. I see. Is it English speakers you despise or just poor people? In Swansea the much more middle class Gower Peninsula had a Welsh-language secondary school for decades but Swansea North (nearly all large estates of social housing had to battle with the council for years and years for Welsh language education and then only got it because they had to close down Penlan boys school, which has a nice swimming pool and facilities attached so it’s the only way they could have kept that going.… Read more »
Welsh-speaking communities in Wales urgently need more social housing for rent! Unfortunately, some people oppose every proposal, no matter what.
People from all communities need housing, why should a preference be given on the basis of the language you speak?