A North Wales council has said it will only back plans for 'fully affordable' homes in a costal village if they are reserved for people who 'speak Welsh.'
Trefor and Llanaelhaearn Community Council wants a Welsh-language condition included before it approves a bid to build 15 affordable homes in the majority Welsh-speaking village of Trefor in Gwynedd.
It said: 'This is a golden opportunity to be truly progressive and innovative by being the first planning authority in Wales to venture to impose a language condition on a new social housing estate in the heartland of the Welsh language.'
The planning application, made by Grŵp Cynefin, puts forth a range of 'fully affordable' homes on land next to Llys yr Eifl, and includes social rented, intermediate affordable rental and part-ownership properties.
They plans are comprised of semi-detached one-and two-storey properties, as well as one detached two-storey home, with gardens and parking provisions.
A council wants a Welsh-language condition before it approves building 15 affordable homes (pictured) in the Welsh-speaking village of Trefor
The homes would be situated on land next to Llys yr Eifl, and include social rented, intermediate affordable rental and part-ownership properties
Trefor has a population of just over 1,000. Its community council has called the Welsh-language development as a 'golden opportunity' to preserve the 'soul' of the nation
The full application also includes associated developments, new vehicular access, an estate road, landscaping and a sustainable surface water drainage area.
During a consultation held on the plans, the community council said it had 'no objection to the application per se' - provided two conditions were met.
These include a Welsh language requirement for any resident of the estate, and the proposal being managed under a lettings policy, as opposed to the common housing allocation policy.
Trefor and Llanaelhaearn Community Council have labelled the Welsh-language prerequisite as a 'golden opportunity' for the town, which has around 1,000 residents.
However, the move has its critics. Gwynedd officers have warned that 'a planning condition restricting housing to Welsh speakers only would not be lawful.'
Yet Trefor Council insisted this would not be the case, adding: 'We understand that the Welsh Language Commissioner has received a legal opinion, which states unequivocally that it would not be illegal to make 'able to speak Welsh' a condition for the letting of social housing.
'We also understand that the commissioner has asked Cyngor Gwynedd, along with housing associations operating within the county, to consider this vital issue seriously.'
The community council also confirmed it has written to planning chiefs at Gwynedd council to encourage them to back the homes for local Welsh-speakers.
It said: 'This can give a decisive and solid start to the preservation of the soul of our nation and the few remaining fragile areas.
'We beg for your willingness to do so and to show our people that Cyngor Gwynedd's mission for our language is genuine, sincere and uncompromising.'
But despite Trefor Council's enthusiasm, not all are enthused.
A local Welsh businessman, who asked not to be named, warned: 'Nationalists might be holding power in Cardiff within months.
'This discrimination could be a sign of things to come for the English-speaking majority in Wales.'
The Welsh Language Commissioner Efa Gruffudd Jones has been approached for comment.
