Welsh house names can be protected by fee hike, councillors argue
The cost of changing a house name in Gwynedd should be hiked from £55 to £10,000 to deter changes from Welsh into English, politicians have argued.
Councillors from the Welsh National Party say the money raised could be spent teaching Welsh to newcomers. Gwynedd Council says people have the right to name their own home, but it urges them to consider the cultural and historical significance of local names. It said of 140 name changes in 2019 only six were from Welsh to English. News presenter Huw Edwards and former first minister Carwyn Jones are among those who have spoken in support of communities who fear their history and culture is disappearing. The Welsh National Party party says that it stands "for not cheapening our own culture for the ease of tourists". Councillor Peter Read, who represents Abererch, said the party's proposal was "simple". "Homeowners will still be able to remove the Welsh name of their property but they will have to pay an astronomical fee to do so," he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service. "If any big spenders are prepared to pay that fee to erase our heritage then we believe any money raised should contribute to secure Welsh language immersion courses that the council previously tried to cut. "Once national legislation is in place to protect Welsh place names we'll happily bring the fee back down." In response, Gwynedd Council said it was "sensitive to local fears that the changing and erasing of Welsh house names is counter-productive and culturally damaging", saying officers would contact people in such cases to ask them to reconsider. "House names are of significant historical importance as they reflect the original use of buildings, their place within the community and surrounding geographical features," a spokesperson said. The Welsh Parliament will discuss the issue soon after a petition garnered over 17,500 signatures. A bid to introduce such a bill in the Senedd in 2017 failed.