Carmarthenshire misses the bus

This month's meeting of Carmarthenshire County Council was dominated by a debate about planning and the Welsh language, and it is worth reflecting on what happened and the implications of the vote.

Carmarthenshire still has (just) the largest number of Welsh speakers of all the Welsh counties; it also showed one of the largest declines in the last census. For those two reasons Carmarthenshire is in the spotlight. What happens here matters, and that is why the Welsh Government set up a group of its own to examine what has been happening to the language in Carmarthenshire - note, specifically in Carmarthenshire.

That in turn means that what Carmarthenshire itself has to say is likely to resonate much more loudly than usual in Cardiff Bay.

The result of the vote on Wednesday means that instead of making itself heard, the County Council has opted to stay silent during a period when some critical decisions will be made about planning and the language.

Although there was some confusion about dates in Wednesday's debate, the important thing to remember is that the Welsh Government, having sat on its hands for two years, will be making up its mind about TAN20 (the planning guidance which covers the language) in the next couple of months.

By wrecking the motion calling on the Government to set up an independent, statutory body to handle the linguistic aspects of planning applications, the Labour Party and its "Independent" partners have ensured that Carmarthenshire County Council, and more importantly the people of Carmarthenshire, will not now have a say because the council's own cross-party group will not report back until early 2014 when the new TAN20 is done and dusted.

There have been some pretty dark chapters in the recent history of this council, and this is one of the blackest.

The wrecking amendment was tabled (in English only) by Callum Higgins, who is still in his early 20s and clearly has his sights set on becoming a career politician. Party loyalty clearly means more to him than loyalty to the community in which he grew up.

It was seconded by Pam Palmer, of all people. Pam cannot speak Welsh and appears not to have made the slightest effort to learn it. Last year she referred to Machynlleth as "the town whose name I shall not attempt to pronounce". Despite that she clearly thinks she is entitled to determine what happens to the language.

Shameful is the only word for it.

What was also clear from watching the debate on Wednesday was that a lot of backroom fixing had gone on in the run-up to the meeting.

In the row which followed the recent planning decision at Penybanc, Carmarthenshire once again found itself in the spotlight. There was some surprise that the Head of Planning, Eifion Bowen, had spoken out and called for an independent body to be set up, as proposed in the original Plaid motion.

A number of councillors referred to this, but in a characteristic intervention the chief executive claimed that he was not aware of any such statement. Perhaps Mr Bowen would like to comment himself.....

Of course, the chief executive would never invite someone to speak in the council chamber with the cameras rolling if he did not have a pretty good idea of what was going to be said.

So Eifion Bowen waffled and repeated several times that all he really wanted was clarity and certainty. He did not actually deny making his comments; he just avoided any refence to what he had said. But here he is speaking on camera to the BBC.

Someone, most likely someone sitting not a million miles from him in the council chamber, had clearly had words with Eifion Bowen.

To end on a positive note, there were some very good speeches during the debate. Alun Lenny, Emlyn Dole  and Cefin Campbell were impressive and balanced, but Sian Caiach deserves special praise. She spoke sincerely and from the heart about her wish as a non-Welsh speaker to see an end to the neglect, indifference and destruction which threatens to rob this county of its identity and one of its greatest riches.