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‘Idiots’ vandalising Welsh language sign in Cardiff ‘won’t stop policy of bilingual names’

20 Oct 2021 2 minute read
Picture by Cllr Stephen Cunnah / Twitter

A vandalised Welsh language street sign in Cardiff “won’t stop” the council’s new policy of bilingual street names, a councillor has said.

Heol Orllewinol Romilly, near Victoria Park in Canton, was painted out in an incident Labour Cllr Stephen Cunnah said he has reported to the police.

Stephen Cunnah, who represents Canton, said: “Very disappointed. Someone has vandalized a new bilingual sign in Canton. This is not acceptable at all.

“I’ve asked officers to arrange it, and made a complaint to the police. Cardiff Council’s Welsh street naming policy will remain in place despite the idiots”

It was decided by the council in 2019 that any new streets in Cardiff would be given Welsh names which reflect the history of the area.

More main streets in the city centre and Cardiff Bay will also become bilingual under the plans.

A new street’s name could be considered in a language other than Welsh in “exceptional circumstances” if it reflects the heritage of the area, the council said.

Council leader Huw Thomas said at the time: “We know Cardiff is growing and this will make sure the streets reflect the historic origins of these areas.”

From a public consultation of 2,248 responses, three in five (60.8%) agreed the council should work towards parity between the number of Welsh street names and English street names across the city.


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Grayham Jones
2 years ago

Welsh must be the first language in wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 all names in wales must be welsh first English second we in wales have got to stop being little Englanders and be proud to be welsh start fighting for your children and grandchildren future in wales it’s time for a new wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Hannergylch
Hannergylch
2 years ago
Reply to  Grayham Jones

Welsh names have practical advantages too. If an envelope is damaged and the address is hard to read, then a Welsh name should get it delivered sooner. No one is going to confuse Heol Orllewinol Romilly with a similar name outside Wales! Welsh names are a win win.

The Royal Mail, to their credit, actively encourage their Anglophone customers to write addresses yn y Gymraeg.
(https://www.poweredbypaf.com/offering-royal-mail-postcode-address-file-customers-the-option-to-use-the-welsh-version-of-their-address/)

Last edited 2 years ago by Hannergylch
George Bodley
George Bodley
2 years ago
Reply to  Grayham Jones

Why do we need english names ? Do you see english names anywhere in france Germany or the rest if europe?get some pride man

Grayham Jones
2 years ago

If you don’t like the welsh language there is a border you can cross it England

SundanceKid
SundanceKid
2 years ago

Lol. Do you have the same attitude when you’re on holiday in Spain?

Erisian
Erisian
2 years ago

Unable to speak your own language? Why not lash out like a brat?
There are more than 400,000 people learning Welsh on DuoLingo. Join them.

j humphrys
j humphrys
2 years ago
Reply to  Erisian

Will do. Stop all my mistakes, well, maybe…………..

Jenny Howell
Jenny Howell
2 years ago

It’s not only Welsh language place names. The 20mph sign by Victoria Park on Romilly West has also been defaced. Possibly by the same person?

Y Cymro
Y Cymro
2 years ago

This is a hate crime. The same vandalism happened numerous times to the Welsh memorial wall to the drowning of Capel Celyn, Cofiwch Dryweryn.

It’s seems discrimination towards Wales and the Welsh language is the last accepted prejudice.

PS. This happened, is real, not Nation Cymru clickbait as some ignoramuses often claim.

Last edited 2 years ago by Y Cymro
Gareth Northam
Gareth Northam
2 years ago

It’s absolutely ridiculous having two names for streets and waste of money. More expenses and more costs for the Welsh people. I’m a fluent Welsh speaker, and I’m proud to be Welsh but this is ludicrous. I grew up on housing estate where the street names were all in Welsh. They were names like Heol Llyswen, Llwyn-Yr-Eos, Lan-Y Parc, Rhiwfer, Llwyncelyn, Bryncelyn. These names gave the area character and are beautiful. These won’t have their English counterpart added, which makes the bilingual policy one-sided, hypocritical, and a farce. And if they did have English counterparts it would spoil the character… Read more »

Cymreigiwr
Cymreigiwr
2 years ago
Reply to  Gareth Northam

Hard disagree. There’s a negligible uplift in cost to put two names on a sign instead of one – there is no wasted money, and it’s a great way to make Cymraeg more visible and accessible. Nobody is proposing English translations for Welsh-only names, and yes, the policy is one-sided, because the situation of our language is extremely one-sided and this needs redress, and the Welsh public have repeatedly confirmed support for that. Welsh-only names are fine, and translating English names into Cymraeg is fine too. History is the past, and cannot be cancelled or changed or erased (time machines… Read more »

Nigel Edwards
Nigel Edwards
2 years ago
Reply to  Gareth Northam

The last sentence of the article confused me, “…the council should work towards parity between the number of Welsh street names and English street names across the city” – if all (or most) new streets are given bilingual names the current level of disparity will be maintained? Am I missing something? I’m in Flintshire, and we’ve had a bilingual street name policy for some time, but I find that the end effect is that all the streets become known by their English language name, the Welsh name is there like a token and ignored. The only way to ensure Welsh… Read more »

Stephen Cunnah
Stephen Cunnah
2 years ago
Reply to  Nigel Edwards

“The best approach would be to give all streets Cymraeg names until there’s parity and thereafter employ a 50:50 split.”

Nigel, that is exactly what is happening. Cardiff’s policy is that all new streets have a Welsh *only* name, until parity is achieved. The confusion has perhaps arisen because at the same time, a second part of the policy is that main/trunk roads with established English names will be bilingual – that is what’s happened with Romilly Road West/Heol Orllewinol Romilly.

By the way the sign is scrubbed clean now!

George Bodley
George Bodley
2 years ago
Reply to  Gareth Northam

Absolutely correct should be welsh names only ive heard the ridiculous argument that english people wouldn’t be able go find places if theyre in welsh so how the hell do they manage when they go abroad?

Hannergylch
Hannergylch
2 years ago

Comments get deleted automatically if downvotes outnumber upvotes by some threshold (I think the threshold is 10).

Eric Hall
2 years ago

I’m just sitting here imagining the outcry in the Daily Wail or the Sexpress if non-English speakers had gone round towns in England spraying out the English street names etc
It seems to me that the deafening silence in the mainstream English press about the racism and bigotry that only seems to be going one way at the moment is a symbol of how the English see Wales at the moment – a colony to be exploited and its native culture wiped out in favour of generic English. So no change there over the last 600 or so years

George Bodley
George Bodley
2 years ago

Hang em high

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