Call for moreWelsh-language schools to be built in capital

APETITION signed by 2,000 people will today be handed to Cardiff council’s leader, asking for more Welsh primary schools to be built in the city.

It comes as the Welsh Government publishes its national language strategy, which aims to have a million Welsh speakers by 2050.

The petition asks for the council to promise to open 10 new Welshmedium primary schools by 2022.

“The Welsh Government has pledged to create a million Welsh speakers, with the support of local authorities such as Cardiff council,” it says.

“We therefore call on Cardiff council, in light of this commitment and the rising demand for Welsh-medium education, to open 10 new primary schools across the city of Cardiff by 2022.”

Members of the Cardiff branch of Welsh language campaign group Cymdeithas yr Iaith will meet council leader Huw Thomas today.

Local branch chairman Owain Rhys Lewis said: “It’s great that so many people have signed the petition.

“As our members have gone around the capital to collect signatures, they’ve received enormous support for our campaign, and from people of all types of backgrounds.

“It’s the clear wish of the people of the city to hear Welsh on the tongues of every pupil.

“Indeed, the growth of Welshmedium education in the capital city is completely central to the Labour Party’s objective of creating a million Welsh speakers by the middle of the century.

“The capital, given it is so large and growing, is key to this ambition.

“There are several housing developments planned here, which means that many schools are going to open over the next few years.

“The question for the council is – through the medium of which language will the education be?”

The group also criticised a lack of references to the Welsh language in a document published last week, which laid out the new administration’s plans for the city.

“It was concerning to read last week only one reference to the Welsh language in the council’s vision document Capital Vision, and not a single word in the education section about the language. Is the Welsh language really a priority for the new leadership of the council?”

There are currently 16 Welshmedium primary schools in Cardiff.

And in March, approval was given to a new Welsh-medium primary school in Splott.

It will have space for 420 pupils and 48 nursery places.

Last year, the first intake of Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Hamadryad, in Grangetown, Cardiff, began their first term at temporary facilities ahead of a move to a new school building.

The school, for 420 pupils, was set up to address the shortfall of Welshmedium primary school places in and around the Butetown, Canton, Grangetown and Riverside areas.