New homes should be for Welsh speakers - council

An application was received to build 18 affordable homes in the village of Botwnnog on the Llŷn Peninsula

A community council has said it would like for new homes to be limited to people who only speak Welsh.

Botwnnog community council said the housing would constitute an "over development" and feared they could go to non-Welsh speakers.

The county council Cyngor Gwynedd received an application to build 18 affordable homes at the Welsh-speaking village Botwnnog on the Llŷn Peninsula.

"It would be great if the availability of the proposed houses could be limited to Welsh speakers only," the community council said in a planning report.

The affordable homes application is for grazing land adjoining Cae Capel

The application by R Williams of Cae Capel Cyf has attracted "strong" local objections, according to the report.

Botwnnog community council said that due to "high demand in the area for second homes, short-term accommodation and the power of the tourist trade has led to a substantial influx of non-Welsh speakers to the area for decades".

"This has led to a major decline in the percentage of Welsh speakers in the nearby communities of Llangïan/Abersoch. This degenerative force does not recognise boundaries," it continued.

"As we know, it only takes the presence of a few non-Welsh speaking people to turn  the community’s language of communication from Welsh to English."

It added that the applicant "expects the community to do the necessary integration work. The lesson from the history of many Welsh communities is that this is not likely to happen."

It also added said it felt there was "no local need" for the homes and that development would add pressure to schools and an "already overwhelmed” local health service.

The application argued that the occupiers can expected to be local people with "the same Welsh-speaking characteristics as the local population".

They added the impact of language will be "nil or at most very modest, and certainly not sufficient to be materially harmful to the language".

They said "the key issue is missed, which is that the proposal would provide affordable housing to meet evidenced local needs".

Concern that the community was expected to integrate non-speakers was also a "misrepresentation of our argument" they stated.

The matter is due to come before the council’s planning meeting on 9 September.