Welsh minister criticises ‘grim’ property article that says English speaking parts of west Wales are ‘more desirable’
A Welsh Government minister has criticised a property article in the Financial Times that describes Ceredigion as “less discovered” and suggests that English-speaking parts of the west of Wales are considered “more desirable”.
Deputy Climate Change Minister Lee Waters said that the article was “grim”, saying that it was effectively arguing that Wales was “cheaper than Devon and Cornwall” and that some parts had “less of that Welsh business”.
The article in the Financial Times titled ‘The Sales in Wales’ says that demand for homes is “accelerating” in the west of Wales.
“With its miles of pristine beaches and ruggedly dramatic national park coastline, Pembrokeshire has been popular with second-home owners from England and Wales for decades, with many seeing the area as a cheaper and less crowded alternative to Cornish holiday hotspots,” the article says.
The article notes that “prices tend to be higher in the south” of Pembrokeshire as the “area known as ‘Little England beyond Wales’, below the Landsker Line that crosses south-west Wales, dividing the predominantly Welsh and English-speaking parts, is often considered more desirable by English buyers”.
It quotes a couple who moved from Rugby and who said that having found the property market in Pembrokeshire to be “too frenzied” they “ended up buying over the border in Ceredigion, where the scenery is similar […] but it feels less discovered”.
New figures published by Halifax last week showed that Wales bore the brunt of skyrocketing house prices in 2021, raising fears that many people would be priced out of their own communities.
‘Pressure’
Prices in Wales shot up by 14.5 per cent compared with 2020 to an average of £205,579, by far the biggest rise of any nation or region within the UK.
In comparison, London had the weakest annual price growth of all regions at 1.2 per cent. Across the UK, house prices rose by 9.8 per cent.
The news comes as Cymdeithas yr Iaith plan a rally will take place in Aberystwyth on 19 February to protest the housing crisis.
The Nid yw Cymru ar Werth (Wales is not for Sale) rally will be held on the 60th anniversary of the broadcasting of the ‘Tynged yr Iaith’ (Fate of the Language) lecture by academic and political activist Saunders Lewis.
The rally will start on the Trefechan bridge in the town, the site of Cymdeithas’ first-ever protest in 1963, and end at the offices of the Welsh Government.
Speakers will include Mabli Siriol the current chair of Cymdeithas yr Iaith and singer, Bryn Fôn.
One of the organisers of the rally, Osian Jones, said: “It has been clear that recent pressure by the people of Wales for justice in the housing market and for measures to secure the right to live locally has had a significant impact on the government.”
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Nice piece in the F.T that reflects the healthy colonialist mindset that still prevails among the grasping Anglo Brit middle class. You can imagine some muppet in Bucks or Berks uttering advice along the lines of ” I say old boy do stay away from some of those places inland as there are natives about who address each other in native tongues and at times resort to burning down one’s house “
Hmmm. “more desirable” and “english speaking”.
That’s a chicken and egg scenario right there………
People are not going to give the Welsh Government any peace until the housing market in the west of Wales is brought under rational control and locals are not priced out of their own area. The FT article is a piece of offensive colonialist advertising that would not be possible if proper regulations were introduced by Cardiff Bay.
Recently heard about one couple from Surrey who’d bought a retirement home in Ceredigion, but were “upset” by the amount of Cymraeg they encountered. The FT article is the usual property porn that portrays many of our communities as quaint and undiscovered but above all else dirt cheap (in their eyes).
Ethnic cleansing with a velvet glove
No more second homes in wales 🏴 it’s time for a new wales 🏴
It’s also time you learned to use the shift key and use an upper-case W
He knows perfectly well. Look at his 1st word. “Welsh” meaning “foreign” is an adjective so it doesn’t require capitalising. Unless of course we are paying undue respect to the language of our oppressor. In a similar vein, “wales” would be rendered in lower case as should “english” and “england”. I think Grayham may be on to something here – hope it goes viral 🤣
Don’t take Grayham’s grammar to heart nobody’s perfect. His posts have positive notes a bit extreme I admit but his comments do strike a cord.
Did you do that on purpose? Strike a chord, surely?
More Anti-Welsh language rhetoric from the English pigswill press.
.
well said, sad though it is to see all this claptrap. They don’t get it do they. The english establishment is doing all the right things to further our cause – too stupid to see it of course. They seem to think Wales is
just another county.
But let’s hope anyway. Bring on independence. We might stand a chance if they keep on in this vein.
Welsh independence is the only way to cut out this cancer
Why is there a house called Manchester House Bradford House or London House in every village in Wales it is because where the the Welsh prospered.
This article is Chinese whispers try reading the truth. Some of these comments are made by bigots. When date by whom and a few quotes would be good.
Might be a positive!!!! We are being swamped in the Welsh heartlands. Just a thought
Swamped in the Wesh heartlands how about the greatest Wesh speaking city that has ever existed. With more Welsh speakers than all the cities of Wales combined. It was in England no mentioned of swamped then.
The Liverpool city fathers actually asked for working men from North Wales who responded by helping to build the city and develop its economy. Other than by Ann Robinson, they were seen as a boon to Liverpool. I see no such positive reciprocal contribution currently being made in the Bro Gymraeg, nor have the county councils specifically advertised for white flighters or second homers. The advertising is being done by organs like the Financial Times.
It is a global world Wales needs to live with the times look at Caerdydd. A global city and proud.
Not quite sure if globalisation has any bearing on the fight against colonisation in the west of Wales, but still…