The Party of Wales Arfon Standing up for the people of Arfon

Plaid Cymru’s shadow Cabinet spokesperson on the Welsh Language, Sian Gwenllian AM, has said that the Welsh Government is guilty of creating confusion with its planning policy regarding the Welsh language following the publication of a policy which is completely inconsistent with legislation.

Sian Gwenllian says that the Government must reform its consultative document on linguistic considerations in the planning process – (TAN20) – because it is contrary to the Planning Act.
The Planning Act (Wales) 2015 places a duty on local councils to consider the effect on the Welsh language of each planning application, while the government’s Technical Advice Note states that an impact assessment of planning applications on the language should not normally be carried out.
Plaid Cymru’s shadow Cabinet spokesperson on the Welsh Language, Sian Gwenllian, said:
“The government is guilty of creating confusion on this issue. You cannot have a policy document that is contrary to the law.
“Plaid Cymru succeeded in amending the Planning Act to ensure that the impact on the language must be assessed for each planning application – the first time ever that this has been enshrined in law – but it looks as though the government is trying to water down this duty.
“As a result, it is unclear which duties are placed on councils as they consider major construction schemes for hundreds of houses.
“A policy document cannot change the law, so the Minister must amend the advice note in the interests of consistency. I shall be challenging the Minister on this in the Senedd, and will seek to secure this important change.”