Bilingual forms ‘wasting money’ says councillor

“Surely it would be better to spend that money elsewhere. I would rather it being spent learning the Welsh language than being chucked in the bin. They would rather see that money wasted all the time.”

At a meeting of the Vale of Glamorgan council on Wednesday Cllr Mahoney asked how many calls in Welsh were made to the Contact One Vale Call Centre over the last 12 months and how much literature in Welsh has been returned to the council.

He was told there were 240,021 calls to the contact centre in the 12 months leading to July 2018 and 1,956 of those were in the Welsh language - a total of 0.81%.

The council is required by law to treat English and Welsh on an equal basis when dealing with the public and council literature is required to be bilingual, Cllr Bob Penrose told the meeting.

Information on the amount of Welsh literature being returned was not held centrally, he said.

Cllr Mahoney told the meeting: “Wouldn’t it be better if the Vale contacted every household to ask them if they want their stuff in only English, in only Welsh, or both, rather than pander to the language fanatics who would see all that stuff dumped in the bin when I would like to see it spent perhaps on subsidising Welsh language lessons which currently cost £149 for a 10-week course. “Wouldn’t that be a better use of any money that’s spent in this way other than seeing it dumped in the bin for political correctness?”

Plaid Cymru councillor Ian Johnson, who learned Welsh at Barry Boys School, said: “I thought that we were past the point where local politicians tried to make Welsh speakers feel second-rate just for receiving services in their language of choice. Welsh speakers pay their taxes and deserve equal quality of service.

“I regularly use the Welsh language services at the Vale council who are very good at dealing with inquiries. Most paperwork from the council, such as the council tax bill, is automatically bilingual in both Welsh and English, which undermines the complaint being made.

“The continued growth of Welsh language education in Barry in recent decades, and the success of those schools, shows that parents value the opportunities of their children being able to speak both of Wales’ national languages.”

A Welsh Government spokesman said: “Eight-six per cent of people in Wales believe the Welsh Language is something to be proud of. We agree with them and make no apologies for promoting its use or complying with the law around the Welsh language.”