Housing scheme blocked over concerns of impact on Welsh speaking community gets green light

Dale Spridgeon, local democracy reporter

A decision to reject an affordable housing scheme in a rural village due concerns about its need and impact on the significantly Welsh speaking community has been overturned on appeal.

The plan to build 18 houses in the village of Botwnnog was previously rejected by Cyngor Gwynedd’s planning committee.

A proposal had been made by Cae Capel Cyf to build a mix of homes on grazing land near to Cae Capel.

The application had attracted local objections, with concerns about a potential “overdevelopment” of the site, a perceived “lack of need” and fears about homes going to non-Welsh speakers, affecting the use of the Welsh language.

But the applicants had argued the impact would be “nil or at most very modest” and “certainly, not sufficient to be materially harmful to the language”.

Local member Cllr Gareth Williams had told a meeting in September 2024, it would see “18 social rent buildings in a rural field, in a rural village” saying it was an “overdevelopment,” in the middle of the village and “not needed”.

“The people who will live in the houses will be from outside of the area,” he had told a meeting, and would “likely” be non Welsh speakers, which “would [be] detrimental to the culture”.

He added it was “important we protect the Welsh language”.

Applicant Robert Williams had said the scheme was “100 percent affordable,” arguing the homes would be occupied by locals.

He had told the meeting the impact on the language would be “small – if any at all” and the scheme could make a “significant contribution to local housing needs”.

Planning officers had felt the plan met Cyngor Gwynedd’s Housing Action Plan which addressed a “high demand for homes in the county”.

Officer Gareth Jones had referred the matter to a “cooling off period” warning the committee they “would not be able to defend the decision” should it go to appeal.

The application went back before the committee in October 2024 for reconsideration.

Unhappy that the original refusal wasn’t ratified, Botwnnog Community Council had met to agree a vote of no confidence in the county’s planning department.

Costs

Council chiefs had again warned that failure to overturn the original refusal could lead to punitive costs, deter future investment and potentially damage the Welsh language.

After the refusal was appealed, a Planning and Environment Decisions Wales [PEDW] inspector granted planning permission this month.

Among his considerations, he noted “the pressing local need” for affordable housing.

“Delivery of 100% of the appeal scheme’s intended units as affordable units would be justified,” he wrote.

He also noted that although he did not “seek to diminish the Council’s concerns in relation to the Welsh language” there was “little substantive evidence before me of any harm from the letting of dwellings locally to occupiers originating from outside Gwynedd”.

He said: “Even assuming, at its worst case, that the appeal scheme’s residents would have no Welsh language skills and would be entirely drawn from outside the area, the… proposal would have only a minor effect on the language.

“I consider it unlikely that all occupiers of the appeal scheme would be drawn from outside the community or the council’s district, or entirely from members of the population without any Welsh language ability.”

The council has also been ordered to pay the costs of the applicant’s appeal.