Writers and poets join homes fight

WRITERS and poets have warned a proposed plan to build almost 8,000 homes could have a devastating effect on the Welsh language.

In a letter sent to the leaders of Gwynedd and Anglesey councils, the group fear the Joint Local Development Plan, as it stands, would be tantamount to “cultural suicide”.

Among those who have signed it are Ifor ap Glyn, the National Poet of Wales, author Jan Morris, novelists Lloyd Jones and Patrick McGuinness, and a number of National Eisteddfod Chair and Crown winners. The chair of the executive committee of this year’s eisteddfod, Derec Llwyd Morgan, is also among the signatories.

The writers also claim the plan, which would lead to 7,902 new homes being built across both counties, fails to properly address local housing needs in areas which are “the last strongholds of Welsh”.

According to one signatory, novelist Angharad Price, “the needs of local people should be at the heart of such a plan, along with affordable housing and the provision of rented homes for young families. The development plan is highly flawed in this respect.”

The letter adds: “Even more alarming is the fact that Gwynedd council has not commissioned an independent assessment of the plan’s impact on the Welsh language.

“It should be a council’s basic duty to look after the welfare of the population it represents. These areas are the last strongholds of Welsh.

“We, as writers and as resi- dents of Gwynedd and Môn, live, create and earn our living through the language – as do thousands of our fellow residents. It is an irreplaceable cultural and economic resource.

“Until such an assessment is carried out, and until the true implications of the proposed developments on local culture and communities are properly assessed, we urge you not to adopt the development plan as it currently stands. We have too much to lose.”

Gwynedd council will be discussing the Joint Local Development Plan on July 28, and it will be discussed by Anglesey council on July 31.

Both local authorities have been asked to comment about the letter.