A VILLAGE in the heart of the Vale of Clwyd will stop being a Welsh majority speaking area after the granting of planning permission for a large housing development councillors have warned.

Members of Denbighshire’s planning committee voted in favour of the plans that would see 33 new homes built in Llanrhaeadr by applicant Field 4 Limited.

The development will be on 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 to include seven detached dwellings, 14 semi-detached dwellings, six terraced houses, and six apartments.

Objections were raised by the community council and the local county councillor Joe Welch over fears that an influx of newcomers would turn the community into a majority English speaking one.

2011 census figures show that the proportion of Welsh speakers in the village was 50.3% with the developers own estimate showing that it would result in a drop of one per cent.

Speaking against the proposal, Llanrhaeadr community council chairman, Elfed Williams warned: “Llanrhaeadr is counted as a linguistically sensitive area in the last census. The number of speakers was 50.3%, one of the few areas in the county with a majority of Welsh speakers in the county. Welsh would become a minority due to this development.”

He added that there is only one free space in the village primary school and parents in the area would be forced to take their children to Ruthin or Denbigh for their schooling.

Speaking in favour of the development, Sioned Edwards, an agent acting on behalf of the developer, said: “The objection has been on the basis of the impact on the language. In preparing the plan  the council and the inspectorate has considered the effect on the Welsh language and have come to the conclusion that it is acceptable. Between 2001 and 2011 the population of the ward has reduced, aged and young people have moved out of the area. This plan tries to tackle this and tries to get young people active within the economy and one way of doing this is by providing housing in villages such as Llanrhaeadr. The growth of the population is essential to ensuring that Welsh communities can flourish.”

But Cllr Welch  argued that the damage to the Welsh language in the area would be significant.

He said: “The applicant has provided us with a 65 page document about the Welsh language.

“My reading of it is that it does not bode well for the language. In their document Cadnant (consultants for the developer) have admitted that the number of Welsh speakers is going to go down in Llanrhaeadr, using their figures it would go down from 50.3% to just over 49%. So it’s only a one per cent decrease but it’s a crucial one per cent because a majority Welsh speaking village becomes a minority welsh speaking village. Which I would say is a significant harm.”

Councillors voted by 11 votes to seven in favour of granting planning permission.