Wales BANS new homes being built over fears English speakers will live there

The council had blasted what it called a "substantial influx" of second home-owners and tourists, which it said was a "degenerative force" undermining the growth of the Welsh language - echoing Welsh Government guidance to reach a million speakers by 2050.

And though would-be developer Robert Williams has called the homes "100 per cent affordable" and claimed they would be occupied by locals, he's had his plans cast down.

Williams had said the impact on the Welsh language would be "small - if any at all", and had talked up the 18 homes as presenting a "significant contribution to local housing need".

But councillors had other ideas - with one, Gareth Williams, claiming he could "go on for an hour" against the plans, citing a widely-held "bad feeling" among locals.

He told the council: "Everyone in the local area feels very strongly against it... No one locally has asked to live in the homes.

"It will be 18 social rent buildings, in a rural field, in a rural village." He doubled down on prior council comments on the homes constituting an "over-development", saying there was "a lack of need" for the properties.

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Cllr Williams continued: "The people who will live in the houses will be from outside of the area," adding that any potential occupants would likely not speak Welsh - which "would [be] detrimental to the culture".

He wasn't the only one to come out against the new homes - another councillor, Louise Hughes, said: "How on earth are they going to squash 18 houses into a small area?

"Botwnnog is more of a hamlet - to put a huge development into a small village alters the character of a village.

"As a non-fluent Welsh speaker, I sympathise with the views. There's no local need... Not just 'local' need as in the Llŷn Peninsula, but Gwynedd-wide.

"It would change the character of the village... I am against granting permission on this one."

Though planning officer Gareth Jones laid down his case in favour of the new homes, saying there was a "dire need" for affordable housing in Botwnnog.

But as the council meeting concluded, Gruff Williams - as he proposed the authority's decision to refuse the development - said: "There is no need locally."

He added: "They should locate the houses where the need is, mostly round the Caernarfon area.

"People say we are racists when we are trying to protect our language... It makes it difficult for people to stand up against these policies."

Councillors now face a ticking clock to push through the ban, with a so-called "cooling-off period" in place preventing an official decision from being made for a number of days.