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<h1 class="gmail-section-theme-background-indicator gmail-publication-font">Why Welsh language campaigners have plastered road signs with stickers</h1><p>Council bosses said they are taking action amid protest</p><div class="gmail-byline"><div class="gmail-sharebar" style="top: 79px;"><ul><li class="gmail-count-shares"><span class="gmail-count-text gmail-initial gmail-publication-theme">Share</span></li><li class="gmail-sharebar-provider"><br></li><li class="gmail-sharebar-provider"><br></li><li class="gmail-sharebar-provider"><br></li><li class="gmail-sharebar-provider"><br></li><li class="gmail-sharebar-provider"><br></li><li class="gmail-sharebar-provider"><br></li><li class="gmail-sharebar-provider"><br></li><li class="gmail-count-shares gmail-last"><span class="gmail-count-num"> <strong>533</strong> shares</span></li></ul><ul class="gmail-comments-container"><li class="gmail-sharebar-comments"><br></li><li class="gmail-count-comments"><a href="https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/welsh-language-campaigners-plastered-road-15470336#comments-section" title="Comments"><span class="gmail-count-num">41</span><span class="gmail-count-text gmail-initial">Comments</span></a></li></ul></div><div class="gmail-article-information"><div class="gmail-author-information-container"><span class="gmail-author-label">By</span><div class="gmail-author"><a class="gmail-publication-theme" href="https://www.dailypost.co.uk/authors/steve-bagnall/">Steve Bagnall</a><span class="gmail-job-title">Journalist</span></div></div><ul class="gmail-time-info"><li>00:00, 27 NOV 2018</li><li><span>Updated</span>16:29, 27 NOV 2018</li></ul></div><div class="gmail-article-type gmail-publication-font"><a class="gmail-channel-name gmail-section-theme-highlight" href="https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/">News</a></div></div><div class="gmail-article-wrapper"><div class="gmail-content-column gmail-p402_hide"><div><a href="http://inyourarea.co.uk" class="gmail-iya-articleLogo"><img src="https://s3.mirror.co.uk/emerging-products/in-your-area/logo-InYourArea-dark.svg"></a><span class="gmail-iya-articleCTA gmail-iya-longCTA"><a href="http://inyourarea.co.uk">Enter your <span>postcode</span> for <span>local news</span> and <span>info</span></a></span><form class="gmail-iya-postcode-search"><input class="gmail-iya-postcode-new"></form></div></div></div><img src="https://i2-prod.dailypost.co.uk/incoming/article15470344.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/2_Sticker-placed-by-Cymdeithas-yr-Iaith-Gymraeg-on-Wrexham-road-signs-in-protest.jpg" alt="Sticker placed by Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg on Wrexham road sign in protest"><span class="gmail-caption">Sticker placed by Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg on Wrexham road sign in protest</span><span class="gmail-credit"> (Image: Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg)</span><div class="gmail-article-body"><form class="gmail-skinny-signup gmail-skinny-signup-top gmail-publication-theme-border gmail-publication-theme-background-with-transparency"><span class="gmail-skinny-header">Get <u class="gmail-name">daily</u> updates directly to your inbox</span><div class="gmail-skinny-form"><input type="text"></div></form></div><form class="gmail-skinny-signup gmail-skinny-signup-top gmail-publication-theme-border gmail-publication-theme-background-with-transparency"><div class="gmail-skinny-form"><div class="gmail-bottom-links"><span class="gmail-privacy">See our <a href="https://www.dailypost.co.uk/privacy-policy/">privacy notice</a></span></div></div></form><p>Welsh language campaigners have plastered stickers on council road signs in a protest.</p> <p>Eighty English only ‘Give Way’ signs across <a href="https://www.dailypost.co.uk/all-about/wrexham">Wrexham</a> county have had the Welsh ‘yield’ instruction ‘Ildiwch’ stuck on them over the weekend.</p> <p>Aled
Powell, chair of the Wrexham branch of the Welsh language group
Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, says the signs should be bilingual and
claims they have been put up illegally.</p> <p>But <a href="https://www.dailypost.co.uk/all-about/wrexham-council">Wrexham County Borough Council</a> chiefs insists they are older signs which only need to be made bilingual when they are replaced.</p> <p>Mr
Powell said: “Since before Wrexham Council was formed in 1996, there
has been a legal duty on each authority in Wales to ensure road signs
are in both Welsh and English.</p> <p>“But when I moved to live in the
Wrexham area I noticed one type of sign stood all over the place without
any Welsh, like relics of a distant past when some people believed
English was the only language of any worth.”</p>
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<img alt="Wrexham Guildhall" src="https://i2-prod.dailypost.co.uk/incoming/article13818680.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/Wrexham-Guildhall.jpg">
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<span class="gmail-caption">Wrexham Guildhall where the council sits</span>
<span class="gmail-credit"> (Image: Trinity Mirror)</span>
<p>He added: “The unique shape of these particular signs means
there’s not enough space to place the Welsh word, ‘ildiwch’, beneath
the English term, ‘give way’, so Wrexham council had to make an
exception to their Welsh language policy.</p> <p>“But rather than place the Welsh first, the council decided not to put the Welsh at all.</p> <p>“The
council’s Welsh language officer claims the authority had received
direction from a higher authority exempting these particular signs from
Welsh language legislation.</p> <p> <a href="https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/welsh-foreign-language-use-english-15202386">'Welsh is a foreign language, use English' Caernarfon poet told by his bank</a> </p> <p>“I’ve
written and asked the Welsh Language Commissioner, the Welsh Government
and the Wales Office of the Government in Westminster and not one has
been able to confirm the council’s explanation.”</p> <p>Wrexham
council's lead member for communities, partnerships, public protection
and community safety Cllr Hugh Jones, said: “We understand that all new
or replacement Give Way signs need to be compliant with the Welsh
Language Standards – however, the council is not required to immediately
replace signs installed prior to the introduction of the Welsh Language
Standards in March, 2016, and any such replacements would take place as
and when the current signs needed replacing.<em></em></p> <p>“In
those instances where signs need replacing due to issues of wear or
damage, we will of course ensure any replacements are bilingual, with
the Welsh above the English.”</p> <p>It comes as the local authority was
recently criticised by the Welsh Language Commissioner Meri Huws for
displaying Welsh signs with errors.</p> <p>Fourteen complaints from members of the public were received by the Commissioner, five of which were not considered valid.</p> <p>They
also included about signs which were only in English on the doors of
the former People’s Market and Welsh text being displayed underneath
English on a sign below a Christmas tree in Wrexham.</p>
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<span class="gmail-caption">Tŷ Pawb arts centre in Wrexham - formerly the People's Market</span>
<span class="gmail-credit"> (Image: Mark Williams)</span>
<p>Ms Huws has taken enforcement action to ensure any text displayed on signs put up are shown correctly in Welsh.</p> <p>She has also ordered the council to ensure Welsh wording is not treated less favourably than English.</p> <p>The
Commissioners report will be considered by members of the council's
customers, performance, resources and governance scrutiny committee
tomorrow, November 28.</p>
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div></div>