Only Welsh speakers should live on new housing estate, local council says

A community council has said it will only back plans for a new housing estate if it is reserved for Welsh speakers.

Plans for 15 homes have been proposed on land in Trefor, Gwynedd, for which Trefor and Llanaelhaearn Community Council wants a Welsh language condition imposed to ensure it creates a "balanced community", saying it would be a "long-awaited lead for the rest of Wales".

Deputy Welsh Language Commissioner Osian Llywelyn said the condition would be lawful, but stressed language cannot override statutory requirements like prioritising homeless applicants.

Cyngor Gwynedd, which recommends that the development be approved subject to conditions, will discuss the plans on 2 March.

The community council said the development was a "golden opportunity to be truly progressive and innovative" by becoming the first planning authority in Wales "to impose a language condition on a new social housing estate, in the heartland of the Welsh language".

Gwynedd has the highest proportion of Welsh speakers in the country, according to the 2021 Census, which also showed a fall in the proportion of Welsh speakers in Wales.

Trefor and Llanaelhaearn is within the top 3% for the highest proportions of Welsh-speakers, out of more than 1,900 similar-sized communities across Wales.

More than three quarters of local people have at least some Welsh language skills and 58% of residents can fully speak, read and write Welsh, the Census figures show.

Trefor sits beneath the twin peaks of The Rivals - the steep hills that mark the entrance to the northern side of the Llyn Peninsula.

It has close connections with the slate trade which once dominated north west Wales' economy, with its harbour once used for the transport of slate quarried nearby.

Nant Gwrtheyrn, the National Welsh Language Centre, which itself occupies what was once a small slate quarrying village, is a short distance down the coast.

Trefor is a sprawling village with pretty stone cottages and narrow streets offering a picturesque scene.

Increasingly, the area has grown in popularity as a tourism village and many people have also retired to the area from other parts of the UK.

There was a mixed response to council plans to make the new homes available to Welsh speakers only in the village on Friday.

"I'm not strongly opinionated either way," said Clare Brooks, 56, who moved to Trefor with her husband Kevin from Staffordshire three years ago.

"I think whoever needs a home could do with a home," she said.

She added she had no problem with homes going to Welsh speaking families "if they could get enough people who are Welsh speaking".

Malcolm Evans, a Welsh speaker who has lived in Trefor for two years, thought the idea would be popular in the community even though he did not agree with it.

"I think it will be unfair on some people," said the 46-year-old security guard, adding that he thought it could be divisive.

But 67-year-old Llywarch Jones welcomed the idea, having lived in the area all his life and seeing the community change.

"I think it's the right thing to do," he said, stressing that he was not in any way anti-English.

"In the small villages around this area, there's more English people coming in and there's quite a lot in this village as it is," he said.

"There are one or two streets that are second homes. Nobody lives in them in the winter - no kids, no school, no shops," he added.

The application proposes a mix of fully affordable homes, including semi-detached, one and two-storey houses, plus a detached two-storey property, and also includes a new access road and landscaping.

Cyngor Gwynedd has recommended its approval, subject to a Section 106 or an agreement on open spaces.

During consultation, the community council said it did not oppose the plans but wanted two conditions - a Welsh language requirement for residents and the use of a local lettings policy instead of the usual allocation system.

"Cyngor Gwynedd is often proud to announce, if not to boast at times, that it is a progressive council that leads the rest of Wales on the issue of the Welsh language," it said.

"It is our duty to recognise that there is a great deal of truth in that and thank you for your efforts.

"It would be a credit and a precedent for the council itself and an enlightened and long-awaited lead for the rest of Wales."

Previously, similar attempts have been made by other community councils in Gwynedd, including the Welsh-speaking village Botwnnog on the Llŷn Peninsula.

Deputy Welsh Language Commissioner Osian Llywelyn said the sustainability of communities with a high density of Welsh speakers was "essential to the future of the language" and called for "policies that contribute to strengthening these communities".

However, he stressed, language cannot override statutory requirements set out in the act, such as giving a "reasonable priority" to individuals in certain circumstances, such as people who are homeless or who need to move for medical reasons.

Llywelyn added that the council already prioritises people with a "local connection" and that evidence suggests "this approach ensures that a high percentage of those who are allocated housing are Welsh speakers".

Cyngor Gwynedd said it had received an application for the development of 15 affordable homes in Trefor, and that all comments and recommendations would be discussed at the planning meeting on 2 March.

Additional reporting by Rob Thomas and Paul Pigott