Call for Welsh first on every sign

The Welsh Language Commissioner's proposed improvements in services for Welsh speakers include making Welsh the first language on all council and government signs, including road signs. The Commissioner, Meri Huws, has now published the responses from the local councils and the Welsh Government.

The Welsh Government has no objection, though it says it would take until 2025 to completely replace signs on trunk roads and on the M4 which have English before Welsh. Of the 22 councils, which look after all other road signs, 12 are against the idea. Many point out that most of their electorates don't speak Welsh but the commissioner says that is missing the point.

Local councils and the Welsh Government were consulted about how practical the change would be and no-one is arguing that it's any harder to put one language first rather than the other, provided any change is phased in as part of the normal maintenance programme.

In the 1960s and 1970s a motorist looking for directions would often find that a road sign had been torn down or painted out, as the campaign to raise the status of the Welsh language gathered pace. The Welsh Office commissioned the Bowen report on the desirability of bilingual road signs and it recommended that they should be bilingual with Welsh first.

One argument was that it would be less confusing -and safer- to have a consistent approach rather than a mixture of signs depending on the preference of individual councils. There was then a delay of several years in the face of objections to bilingual road signs, especially with the Welsh first. The protests continued and Dyfed council started putting up signs with road numbers but no place names, rather than have them constantly painted out.

Eventually bilingual road signs were given the go ahead by the UK government but with English first, which was thought to be more widely acceptable. It was a policy that broke down almost immediately. Gwynedd Council even went so far as to commission some special signs where the languages could be swapped around. The English only stayed on top until the Secretary of State had officially opened a new by-pass, Welsh was promoted as soon as he was gone.

It was soon accepted that Gwynedd and Dyfed would put Welsh first. Meanwhile, two counties -Mid Glamorgan and Gwent- insisted on keeping their signs English-only, though they couldn't stop the Welsh Office making the M4 and trunk roads bilingual. Mid Glamorgan eventually introduced bilingual signs but Gwent's policy lasted until the council's abolition in 1996.

Local government reorganisation also saw the Welsh-first policy spread as far east as Denbighshire in the north and also include Powys. The Welsh Government has also started including the Welsh names of destinations in England, which used to be English-only on otherwise bilingual signs. For example 'Caer' now appears above 'Chester' along much of the A55.

Once highly controversial, bilingual signs have become an indication of Wales becoming more Welsh. First Minister Carwyn Jones dismissed opponents of more powers for the Assembly in the 2011 referendum as "the kind of people who still don't accept bilingual road signs".

It's the Welsh Government that will have to decide whether to impose the Welsh-first requirement on local councils. As when they were first introduced and when they were extended to Gwent, local government reorganisation may provide the opportunity to quell any objections. If it happens by 2025 it will mean that the Bowen Report's recommendations are finally fully implemented after a mere 53 years.