New research from Dr Huw Lewis from Aberystwyth University argues that only ‘very marginal’ consideration was given to the Welsh Language while developing growth regional growth deals in north, mid and west Wales. The finding is based on a review of the contents of economic development planning documents undertaken by Dr Lewis which shows a fundamental deficit of consideration given to the language.
The aim of City and Growth Deals are to support growth, create jobs or invest in specific regions. They represent large funding packages that are provided by UK and Welsh Governments, and the work is led by local councils who come together to form particular regions.
According to Dr Lewis, the growth deals also tend to ignore other strategic economic considerations, particularly ARFOR, which has a specific remit to consider and strengthen our understanding of the connections that exist between local economic conditions and the continuation and growth of the Welsh language in north and west Wales. In a statement Dr Lewis said:
“Although ARFOR was designed with specific language objectives in mind, it is only one economic programme – and a relatively small one – from among a range of different initiatives.
“Moreover, it is likely that the long-term impact of other initiatives, such as the City and Growth Deals, are much more far-reaching than anything that can reasonably be expected from the ARFOR programme, given the much greater levels of public and private investment involved. Yet, thus far, it seems that the Welsh language has only been a marginal consideration in the development of these initiatives.
“If we want to fully understand the extent to which consideration of the Welsh language is integrated into the process of creating economic development policy, it is crucial that we do not focus solely on ARFOR. We need to consider the extent to which consideration of the Welsh language is also integrated in the process of shaping other economic development initiatives which are much larger and more long-term.
“More specifically, we should look at the extent to which other key economic development strategies or initiatives, such as the regional growth and city deals, have considered their potential to support areas which have a high density of Welsh speakers or to facilitate more use of the Welsh language on a day-to-day basis.”
Although the lack of engagement with Welsh on the part of the growth deals, the study shows there was a gradual improvement in the consideration given to the language in the Welsh Government’s economic strategies between 2002 and 2021.
“The prospects for languages such as Welsh can be influenced by decisions across all policy areas.
“The research findings show a clear difference between the level of consideration given to the Welsh language in the economic strategies published by the Welsh Government compared to the key documents produced when developing the north Wales, mid Wales and south west Wales growth or city deals. At that growth deal level, the language was peripheral to the policy.
“Given how important the economy is to the future prospects of the Welsh language it is hoped that the findings from this research can facilitate further discussion on how to mainstream the language into all economic development programmes overseen by the Welsh Government and our local authorities.”
Dr Lewis’s research was undertaken as part of the University’s work as part of the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning workstream for the ARFOR II programme in collaboration with Wavehill.
