Siol nan Gaidheal forum

CYMRU - ANGER AT 'SENSE OF IDENTITY' COMMENT

According to a Councillor in Wrexham/Wrecsam the village of Rhostyllen
in north east Wales "does not have a sense of Welsh identity."

The comments made by Mr Bob Dewey at a Council planning meeting to
discuss the National Trust planning application to build 223 houses
on Erddig estate ground in Rhostyllen, have led to widespread criticism
from residents and community groups alike.

Dewey's comments came in response to Wrecsam Council guidelines which
state that "no new development should have an adverse affect on Welsh
identity and or language', but Mr Dewey claimed that the regulation
was "not applicable in this case because Rhostyllen doesn't have a
sense of Welsh identity'.

The Council planning meeting follows a local referendum, in the ward
of Esclusham, where residents voted overwhelmingly against National
Trust plans to build 223 houses in Rhostyllen. It was hoped that after
the referendum, the National Trust would withdraw their development
plans, but in spite of local opposition, decided to continue with
the application. The application therefore went back to Wrecsam Council's
Planning Committee for further scrutiny and this is where Dewey's
comments were made.

Cymuned, the Welsh housing and community group that spearheaded the
campaign to stop the development along with the Rhostyllen Residents
Committee, are furious with the National Trust for not commenting
on the results of the referendum. Cymuned and Rhostyllen Residents
Committee are now pursuing a campaign to get the National Trust to
do just that. Cymuned are also calling on Wrecsam Council to issue
a public statement to say if they believe that Rhostyllen has a Welsh
identity or not.

Tara Green of the Rhostyllen Residents Committee said "To say Rhostyllen
isn't Welsh is an absolute insult to residents, it's unforgivable.
In addition, the planning committee brushed aside the issue of local
opposition despite an official referendum with results of 2:1 against.
The decision has now been deferred but serious questions have to be
asked about why our council is ignoring official planning guidelines.
We have identified at least seven other guidelines which this proposed
development breaches. I'm personally very concerned about this whole
process, especially the fact that they are ignoring local opinion."

_________________
"The thistle rises and forever will" - MacDiarmid

NB - I am not the same person as the poster "Scottish republic".

This kind of stuff leaves me speechless. Im sure there are non-Welsh residents there but plenty of Welsh ones too. The flighties that are in Wales chose to move there, if they didnt like or want to assume the Welsh culture, why did they move there in the first place? Obviously suffering from that well known flightie illness of wanting to anglicise everything and everywhere they go. Btw, that name bob Dewey, im sure ive heard it before?

See also here -

http://www.cymuned.net/blogsaesneg/

The language is the strongest weapon that the Welsh have against colonisation, to a greater degree than here. And north east Wales, due to its position has always had a big problem with becoming a commuter belt zone for Chester, Liverpool even Manchester etc

http://englishinwales.com/

(Fro Gymraeg means the parts of Wales where over a 1/4 speak the national language)

_________________
"The thistle rises and forever will" - MacDiarmid

NB - I am not the same person as the poster "Scottish republic".

Very good letter, well put. Maybe someone should circulate that in the gaeltacht?
(changing the Welsh for Gaidhlig obviously, before someone makes a smartarse comment )

I don't think Rhostellyn is particularly Welsh speaking, but certainly only 5% of English people moving into Welsh speaking areas bother to learn the language at all - I would think the proportion in the Scottish Gaidhealtachd is even lower.

_________________
"The thistle rises and forever will" - MacDiarmid

NB - I am not the same person as the poster "Scottish republic".