“Positive” report into Welsh language use as councillor asks for recognition of ‘significant improvements’ rather than ‘nitpicking’

A councillor has said “some people out there just need to understand that we’ve made these significant improvements, and rather than just badgering the commissioner every two minutes” over Welsh language use by Wrexham Council.

The 2019/20 Welsh Language Annual Monitoring Report going before the Executive Board next week was due in June however has been delayed due to the pandemic.

In 2019/20 the Council was subject to 14 investigations into a lack of compliance with the standards, and several other complaints. The complaints ranged from the council’s “MyAccount” system not accepting .cymru or .wales top level domain names in email addresses, to incorrect road signs in Ruabon, with more detailed in the report.

Complaints that were upheld include info graphics on carpark pay machines being English only, which was resolved via textless stickers and placed on all council owned parking machines. Another saw Ty Pawb not receiving people for meetings in Welsh, and the resolution is noted as “Budget approved for two full time Welsh speaking receptionists at Tŷ Pawb.”

Cllr Hugh Jones said, “It is a very positive report because it shows the progress we’re making. If you think about it, there’s 171 Welsh language standards that we have to comply with, and considering that, the number of complaints and concerns are relatively few. We have responded and resolved a significant number of them.”

“In terms of the progress we’ve made, last year’s report showed a number of problems regarding basically our website, our interface through the website, and we’ve made huge progress now with the new the website. We’ve resolved virtually all of those complaints.”

“In terms of the promotion and encouragement of the Welsh language and Welsh culture, there have been three basic significant events that we’ve held, also with the advent ofTy Pawb and the work they have done in terms of fostering the the Welsh language, culture and heritage.

“We always have to remember that as a border county it is often very difficult to attract Welsh language speakers into our staffing. Again, we’ve made progress in that direction.”

Cllr Hugh Jones highlighted one area of issues, “Where we have had problems in the past is with third parties in terms of signage, when we’ve subcontracted work and the signs have not complied. We are now we’re now more rigorous in that. So what we do is we in every case, we learn the lesson, and hopefully, we don’t repeat the problem again.”

With potential penalties for noncompliance we asked if Wrexham Council had been subjected to any such financial penalty.

Cllr Jones explained, “We continue to work with the Welsh Language Commissioner. Prior to lockdown, we had meetings both with previous Commissioner and the current Commissioner, and also with the Commissioner’s staff. What we try and do is where we identify problems, we try to work together with the Commissioner, and that’s avoided us having to pay any financial penalties.”

“So yes, there is a legislative responsibility, and yes there are legislative penalties that the Welsh Language Commissioner can impose, but because of the good working relationship, both with the Commissioner and his staff, and the fact that we’ve always shown a positive approach to these issues, we’ve avoided any financial penalty.”

We also asked about the breadth of complaints, if there was one or two people making lots of complaints, or if there was a wider unconnected depth of people getting in touch spotting errors.

Cllr David A Bithell chose to respond, stating: “We have made significant progress over the last two to three years on Welsh language standards and it is welcome that Aled Roberts who is the Welsh Language Commissioner takes a very good pragmatic view in supporting, not just Wrexham, but all local authorities in trying to achieve and improve the standards across Wales.”

“I think we have got a good record of improvement, and I would like to thank Cllr Hugh Jones and the Officers for that.”

“We have got people out there in the local community who, and I will say it because people in the council do say it and elected members do say it. We have got people out there who nitpick when we’re trying to make these improvements, and make officers jobs really, really difficult on signage, on lines and temporary signs in emergencies.”

“I think in the past, we have been at fault. But, what I would say is some people out there just need to understand that we’ve made these significant improvements, and rather than just badgering the commissioner every two minutes.”