The “Anglicisation” of Welsh-speaking villages and towns caused by newcomers snapping up post-Covid homes, along with the economic stress of Brexit and the cost of living crisis, is pushing the Welsh language towards a “tipping point”, the head of a new commission set up to tackle it has warned with the situation.
Simon Brooks, chairman of the Welsh-Speaking Communities Commission, said that unless action was taken, there was a danger that Welsh as a community language could soon be lost in some of its traditional centres.
“What we are facing is an important moment in history,” he said. “A lot has happened in a short period of time. You had Brexit, which is a huge economic shock, then the pandemic, which led to a race for space. In my opinion, Anglicization is gaining momentum. There may be a tipping point in terms of language use. The fear is that many of these communities are at this tipping point.
Brooks said a “snowball effect” has helped community languages — which he defines as a language spoken by many or most people in a local community and used in everyday interactions — to flourish. “When everyone speaks the language, you use it. When another language is introduced, you can get to a point where the majority language becomes much more dominant, and that can happen very quickly.”
He said he had noticed a change in his own seaside village in Gwynedd, north Wales. “The language of the street has become more English. This was accelerated by the Covid crisis.”
Brooks said Welsh would still be spoken by many people in Wales, but without intervention it could be at risk as a community language. He added: “The decline of Welsh as a community language is important for the whole of Britain. It is the last Celtic language spoken at a community level. This is important in terms of wider cultural diversity.”
The commission is inviting evidence from citizens and organizations on issues that affect Welsh-speaking communities, from housing and education to community development and regeneration.
Brooks said the language’s survival in second-home hotspots such as coastal villages in Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire was now critical. “You can have 40 or 50% of the housing stock tied up in a second home. At this point, the community is not viable. It cannot survive.”
He said parts of the Welsh language heartland were often economically deprived. “They are on the fringes of the UK, away from the UK and European markets. Historically, many areas have faced the same post-industrial problems as places like northern England. Brooks said Brexit stress and the cost of living crisis were pushing Welsh speakers out.
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The Labour-led Welsh Government is introducing a raft of measures designed to stop Welsh language centers being emptied by a surge in second home ownership, including allowing local authorities to increase discretionary council tax premiums for second homes by up to 300% and forcing owners of dwellings to obtain planning permission to change the classification of a property from a primary residence to a second home.
Brooks, an associate professor at Swansea University’s School of Management, said that as well as looking at the issue of second homes, the committee would look at topics ranging from tackling long-term structural deficiencies to how tourism should be managed and how the language can be kept alive. in the farming community.
Strengthening Welsh-speaking communities is central to the Welsh Government’s strategy to double the everyday use of Welsh by 2050. For the year ending 30 June 2022, the Annual Population Survey reported that 29.7% of people in aged three or over can speak Welsh – about 899,500 people. Just under 15% reported speaking Welsh every day.
Jeremy Miles, Minister for Education and the Welsh Language, said: “It is vitally important that our communities are strong and protected for Cymraeg to flourish. The challenges facing Welsh-speaking communities have increased in recent years and I’m sure many people will have views and suggestions to change this.”
The call for evidence opens on 9 November 2022 and responses are due by 13 January 2023.
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