FEARS for the future of the Welsh language have been raised over plans to build a new housing estate on the edge of a village near Denbigh.

A proposal by landowner Field 4 Limited for 33 homes in Llanrhaeadr will be considered by Denbighshire County Council's (DCC) planning committee at meeting on Wednesday, February 13.

The plan seeks permission for the development of 1.2 hectares of land with 33 dwellings arranged at various angles to one another relative to the access road and A525.

There would be eight different house types which includes seven detached dwellings, 14 semi-detached dwellings, six terraced houses, and six apartments.

But community leaders, including chair of the Llanrhaeadr yng Nghinmeirch Community Council Elfed Williams and AM for North Wales Llyr Gruffydd, have argued that an influx of new residents could tip the demographic of the area from a majority Welsh speaking village to become more English speaking.

The community council has also pointed out that the village’s primary school was full and new residents would have to send their children to other areas for their education.

They believed this could hamper the integration of new residents into the community.

A report to be tabled to members of the DCC committee said: “Community councillors felt that the Welsh language impact assessment used for this application is outdated, especially taking into consideration the difference in the reports finding regarding availability of places in the local school compared to the present reality."

The councillors also felt that the recommendations in the report as to how to encourage people moving onto this site to learn Welsh were weak and unimaginative.

The report added: “They would like to express their concern that the granting of this application could have a detrimental impact on the Welsh language by tipping the linguistic balance of this ward from being an area where Welsh is marginally in the majority to becoming a minority language.

“Therefore, community councillors are requesting that a new Welsh language impact assessment is completed before this application can be considered.”

Planning officers have recommended that the application be approved by the committee.

The report concluded: “Based on the responses to consultation, and in respecting the representations made, officers do not consider there are reasonable grounds to resist the grant of permission.”

In last week's Free Press, a preliminary article on the Llanrhaeadr planning application reported that the firm behind the proposal was D Jones Plant Hire. We now know this is not the case and apologise for any inconvenience caused.