Entitled and ill-informed: No, you can’t ‘join Wales’

Stephen Price

The border of Wales and England is of eternal fascination for me. The place names, the evolving boundary lines, the languages, the unique (and often rhotic) accents spoken either side.

From Kilvert’s diaries of life in and around (a much more Welsh) Hay on Wye, to road trips to Kilpeck, Pontrilas, Arthur’s cave, and beyond, there’s something beautiful about the ‘liminal’ to quote many others before me.

Upper Maescoed, Gilfach, Clodock, Pwll Cam, Bedw, Llanach, Llanwarne, Llancloudy, Llangaron, Bagwylldiart, Pencoyd. Utterly fascinating stuff, and a very wistful case of ‘what might have been’.

The porous border sees Welsh learners travel to a neighbouring village of mine from Herefordshire, the use of the term ‘cwtsh’ on either side, and for many in Monmouthshire’s towns and villages, Hereford has been of much more importance than Cardiff for days out, shopping and the like.

But there’s a clear contrast in how we in Wales see the border (not hard, of course, but there all the same), and how it’s seen from the other side, from ‘the Marches’ – again, a term we simply don’t use.

The Forest of Dean

Over to ‘The Forest’, however, and traces of Welsh disappear for the most part.

The area we now know as the Forest of Dean once formed part of the Cantref Coch and was traditionally considered part of the Brythonic kingdom of Ergyng, centered in modern Herefordshire.

Around 790 the Saxon King Offa of Mercia built his dyke high above the Wye, but the area was still claimed by the Kingdom of Gwent and Morgannwg before it was annexed into the kingdom of England by Æthelstan in 926.

Throughout the next few centuries Vikings conducted raids up the Severn, but by the 11th century, the kingdom of Wessex had established civil government.

From the time of the Norman conquest in 1066 until 1971 the Dean was a Royal Forest. It was used by the Normans as their personal hunting ground and kept stocked with deer and wild boar. In addition the crown had the exclusive rights to timber and to the minerals (familiar much!).

And there you have it.. Until of course, we fast forward to March 2025 amid Westminster’s local government shake-up plans, which could see the Forest of Dean lose its own council.

The proposals have sparked calls for this English district, of English people, of 1,000 years plus to “consider independence or joining Wales”.

According to council reports, there are fears the district is being treated as the “poor relation” in discussions on council reorganisation in Gloucestershire.

And Forest of Dean District Councillors are calling on civic chiefs to not be afraid in standing up for the area which “has a long history of making its voices heard”.

They do not want so see history repeated in “being put upon and shut out of the way”.

At their meeting on March 20, councillors discussed the letter which was sent to Local Government and English Devolution minister Jim McMahon the previous week on behalf of all the county’s authorities.

Options

It outlines three options for the county, one which involves a unitary authority which would see all six districts merged with Gloucestershire County Council.

Another option to create two unitary councils one in the west which includes Gloucester, Forest of Dean and Stroud and another in the east with Cheltenham, Cotswolds, and Tewkesbury.

And the third option is a city-based unitary council based around a ‘Greater Gloucester’ area along with one or two unitaries for the rest of the county area.

Councillor Tim Gwilliam (Progressive Independents), the former leader of Forest of Dean District Council, said they “cannot be left to be the poor relation again”.

He added: “I think it’s sickening. If we are in it together, we are in it together.

“But don’t try and kid us to get our leader to sign joint statements and letters that we have got to work together and then go off and do your own thing – because that’s just pathetic.”

‘Disgraceful’

Unclear if his tongue was in his cheek, Councillor Shaun Stammers (L, Mitcheldean, Ruardean and Drybrook) controversially asked if a referendum could be held on independence from Gloucestershire and joining Wales.

“I’m voting”, he said.

“Next we should have a motion to declare independence from Gloucestershire and have a referendum to see if the people want to be part of Wales.”

Councillor Julia Gooch (Progressive Independents, Newent and Taynton) said it was “very disgraceful” that MPs across the county jumped in and wrote letters” supporting council shake up proposals “without even consulting the public”.

Council leader Adrian Birch (G, Tidenham) said the council should not support any of the three proposals at this stage.

He said they were being “rather forced” to sign the letter and said the there needs to be more public involvement on the proposals.

“We should see what happens over the course of the next six to nine months,” he said.

“We have to provide a further document in November which works up what we as a group of councils have agreed.

“There’s a strong need to involve the public in that decision process. I’m sure we all have strong reservations about why this is taking place. We need to be shown to be taking action.

“But at the same time we should not forget our heritage and the very nature of what we stand for.”

Where to start…

Where to start, where to start…

I’ll let Joshua Declan McCarthy’s Facebook comment response do the difficult bit… He wrote:

“English District Council is unhappy about a plan that might merge local District Councils into the Unitary Authority;

“Suggests joining Wales, a country which has merged all of its District Councils into Unitary Authorities.”

While Ann Owen added: “I wouldn’t waste time and effort if I were them – it’s not their decision even if they were to vote for it! Wales isn’t here as a convenience for dissatisfied over-the-border councils!

“There is a border and different laws and regulations apply on each side of that border. Add to that the fact that District Councils don’t exist here, as we reorganised our local authority structures around 30 years ago!

“But of course it’s really just a wake-up call for attention.”

The oversight doesn’t need dwelling on too much, but it speaks volumes of the councillors’ understanding of the differences between our two countries – one that is all too often encountered by many in these isles and beyond who see Wales as more or less another district of England, but one that exists for the English to take a refuge from themselves from.

Lucky us!

There for the taking

When reading the commentary, I’d have expected a little more ‘let’s gain more territory, it was ours before the Saxons’ rhetoric, but quite proudly most commenters looked on with a heavy dose of side-eye.

Most people in Wales are happy with our lot – and we’re certainly not interested in gaining more land. Hey, just being given due respect and autonomy over our own seems too much to ask for after all.

Shan Aston wrote: “It’ll need to adopt a whole host of differences… school curriculum, bilingual education for starters…”

Can you imagine the hoo-ha? What a treat that would be to watch unfold, when the councillors realise that Wales is, in fact, a country of a different people, with a different history, with… wait for it.. a different language.

But, with their colonial mindset in a strange state of malfunction but present nonetheless, they wouldn’t need to worry about that if they become part of Wales.

They can just throw a tantrum, overlook our distinct, united culture and our bruised history with the land next door and join the club, but play by their own rules. That’ll work won’t it!

With the discovery that things won’t go quite to plan if the councillors get their way, I’m sure this idea will be forgotten quite quickly.

But if they’re in any doubt, I think I speak on behalf of most people in Wales when I say, “paid â malu cachu.”