Children in the Neath Port Talbot area could be the only ones in Wales denied the right to swimming lessons in Welsh following the local council’s legal challenge to a new law.
Neath Port Talbot Council has mounted a challenge to over fifty Welsh Language Standards, regulations that create new rights to receive services in Welsh, more than any other council in the country. They are also the only local authority to challenge a duty that would create a right for children to receive swimming lessons in Welsh.
The pressure group Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg has said that they would consider legal action to protect people’s language rights if councils like Neath Port Talbot try to challenge the new Standards. Under the Welsh Language law, councils can challenge the new rights to Welsh on the basis that they are not reasonable and proportionate. However, campaigners argue that it is not reasonable for people and workers to be denied services in the Welsh language.
In a letter to Neath Port Talbot Council leader Alun Thomas, Steffan Webb, the chair of the local branch of Welsh language campaign group Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg said:
“It is shameful that the Council is challenging more Standards than any other local authority. Indeed, it is a disgrace that you are challenging the standard that would guarantee swimming lessons in Welsh for children. It appears that you are challenging these Standards for the sake of it. It will be some of the most vulnerable people, such as children and those suffering from dementia, that will be denied comprehensive Welsh language services when their need is the greatest. That is a very serious matter.
“Part of the purpose of the Standards is to ensure that councils stick to promises they have been making for decades. Indeed, in many areas the Standards barely ask local authorities to do any more than the commitments in their own current language scheme. There is a danger that there will be no moving forward and development to full Welsh language services.”
“If you do decide to take your legal challenge further, we will consider adding ourselves as a party to any case, so we can defend people’s rights to Welsh and we will ask for stronger duties to be placed on you.”
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