Agenda item

To present information about the progress of the Place-names Project.

Resolved:

·       To accept the report and note the observations received.

·       Recommend and support the Cabinet Member to try and find resources to extend the period of the project to ensure the development and continuity of the service.

The report was presented by the Welsh Language Promotion Project Officer and attention was briefly drawn to the following main points: ⁠ ⁠

Members were reminded that the project was established in 2021 following increasing concerns over a number of years that Welsh names were being lost. It was noted that one of the project's main developments was the Cyngor Gwynedd Place Name Map. It was explained that it noted local names of places within the county, such as fields, roads, buildings, areas and rivers which were used verbally but had not been recorded in official maps. Details were given that the map continued to be populated with new names following workshops in 15 primary schools and 1 secondary school. Individuals with correct information about Welsh local names in their area were encouraged to contact the Officer to populate the map in even more detail.

Attention was drawn to several projects underway to raise awareness of the importance of local names and the historical, linguistic and cultural richness that they included. It was elaborated that the Officer published 'Yr Enw a'r Hanes' articles internally to Council staff to note the history of a place name within the County. Pride was expressed that this was the page that received the most visitors of all the Intranet pages.

It was reported that the project had been very active during the week of the 2023 National Eisteddfod in Boduan. It was noted that the Officer was a member of a national discussion panel accompanied by Jeremy Miles MS (Minister for the Welsh Language) and Dr Dylan Foster Evans (Welsh Place-Name Society) to continue discussions on legal arrangements and policies in this field. Reference was also made to a discussion held on local names in the Babell Lên at the Eisteddfod. Pride was expressed that this discussion held by the Officer had been broadcasted on S4C as part of the Eisteddfod’s programme of the best of the festival (Goreuon yr Ŵyl). It was added that the Officer had been discussing the matter on BBC Radio Cymru by having a four-month contract to discuss local accents and names.

Reference was made to an application that came before the project to try to ensure that Welsh-only names were put on street signs. It was emphasised that the Officer had been investigating the process of renovating all signs, confirming that this would be too costly to implement. However, it was confirmed that the project had adopted an alternative project. Details were given that one of the main aims of this project was to install new signs for locations and areas, such as Twthill (Caernarfon), Lôn Rocar (Llandygai) and Lôn Groes (Pistyll), where there were no existing signs. It was considered that this would make the Welsh language more visible in the county.

Additional projects were mentioned which focused on installing signs such as:

·       Erection of signs marking the old Welsh names of some of the streets in Caernarfon (in association with Caernarfon Civic Society)

·       Welsh only signs erected in Trefor due to a number of missing signs

·       Installation of signs when arriving at former districts/communities on 'A' roads in the County following public interest in seeing 'Llŷn' and 'Eifionydd' signs for the National Eisteddfod.

It was explained that, historically, Town Councils did not have the right to put up monolingual Welsh signs welcoming visitors there. Pride was expressed that, as a result of discussions with the Language Commissioner and the Welsh Government, the officer had succeeded in obtaining the right to allow Welsh-only signs for this use.

Reference was made to the Enwau Gwynedd app currently in development which will be made available to Council staff via the intranet. This would enable staff to assist by correcting any spelling or error in place names. It was explained that the aim was to reconcile the name that the Council used in correspondence.

It was explained that Council Departments worked closely with the Officer on several projects. An example was shared that he advised Building Control on matters relating to street and properties names as well as schools and estates when they received requests to change place names from Welsh to English. Reference was made to the 'Enwi eiddo - Ymarfer Da' booklet developed by the Officer to encourage people to keep the Welsh names of their properties. It was elaborated that the Officer sent a letter out to individuals who wished to change the name of their house from a Welsh name to English in an effort to convince them of a Welsh name that they could use instead. However, it was acknowledged that the Council did not have the power to stop these changes if the owners wished to proceed. Furthermore, it was noted that Welsh names were used on 94% of all new houses built since 2020 but it was confirmed that requests to change house names from Welsh to English remained a challenge.

It was elaborated that the Officer collaborated with the Departments on matters regarding street names, be that misspellings, misuse or other requests. It was explained that this was interesting work as there were 172 different systems used across the Council by different services and the street name data needed to be reconciled to ensure that the systems used the same addresses in the future as the teams' software was updated. It was noted that the 'Local Land and Property Gazetteer' could be used if a street name needed to be confirmed, further using the Welsh name in any attempt to modify the official use for the area.

It was confirmed that the Officer continued to collaborate with external bodies and organisations on a number of different aspects. It was noted that he was a member of the Welsh Place Names Forum, where representatives from the Welsh Language Commissioner's office, the Welsh Government, Eryri National Park and some from other local authorities met to protect local names. It was noted that the Officer consistently encouraged legislative change within these meetings. It was elaborated that the Officer was also working with mapping Wales in the hope of developing Welsh digital maps as the foundation for Cyngor Gwynedd's maps but it was acknowledged that a number of challenges with licences derived from this.

It was reported that the project had been operational since 2021 and was funded until April 2025. Consideration was given to ask the Language Initiative whether they would be eager to adopt the work if the campaign to get an extension for the project was unsuccessful.

Thanks was given for the report.

RESOLVED

·       To accept the report and note the observations received.

·       Recommend and support the Cabinet Member to try and find resources to extend the period of the project to ensure the development and continuity of the service.