Denbighshire council's leader has agreed to invite the Welsh Language Commissioner to review their Local Development Plan (LDP) and give her opinion on how it will affect the language in the county, in a meeting with Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg. 



 

Cymdeithas yr Iaith has called on Denbighshire to postpone their LDP until the long-awaited technical advice TAN20 which deals with impact of any development on the Welsh language. The pressure group has also called on the Council to publish a report on the state of the language in Denbighshire and publish targets to increase the number of speakers in every community.

Denbighshire council officers said in the meeting between Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, the Council Leader and senior officers that their LDP which identifies locations to build up to 7,500 houses was beneficial to the Welsh language and they were confident it would satisfy the expected TAN20 by the Welsh Government. 

Glyn Jones, Chair of Cymdeithas yr Iaith in Clwyd, said: 

 

"We welcome the opportunity the Welsh Language Commissioner will have to review these plans.  That aside, the council is living in a fantasy land. In the meeting they couldn’t offer any evidence to support their claim that the LDP is going to strengthen the Welsh language. The council are ignoring the Denbighshire’s people’s opinion who have real concerns regarding these plans. They say how much work they do for the language but then they undermine all that investment by building thousands and thousands of houses. That's one of the reasons we are calling on the Minister for Housing and Regeneration, Carl Sargeant AM, to publish new planning guidance - TAN20 - which is considerate of the language and our communities."

 

 

Denbighshire have also told Cymdeithas they will be establishing a task force to hold an audit of the Welsh language’s situation locally.