Cymuned
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Cymuned(translated in English as "community",Welsh pronunciation:[kəˈmɨnɛd]) was a Welsh communitiespressure group.Established in 2001, the group campaigned on behalf of local communities inWales,particularly (but not exclusively)Welsh-speakingand rural ones, which it perceived to be under threat due to demographic change.
They protested against the Welsh train companyArriva Trains Walesfor the lack of use of the Welsh language on its services,[1]and the holiday agents Thomas Cook for banning the use of Welsh in its Bangor branch in 2007.
Critics argued that estate agents were providing a commercial service to the Welsh people who contracted them to sell or rent their property in return for market value and that the sharp rise in the cost of property in recent years was not confined to Wales but an international phenomenon of the growing world economy, however Cymuned argued that there was a need to create a secondary sustainable local housing market in rural Wales. A new campaign designed to ensure that a sustainable proportion of new homes should be for locals only is based on planning policy that had already been adopted in theYorkshire Dales National Park,[2]as well as parts ofShropshire,Devon, thePeak Districtand theLake District.[citation needed]
Cymuned also campaigned on behalf of the Rhostyllen community nearWrexhamagainst plans by theNational Trustto develop land next to the village for high-priced housing.
The chief executive of Cymuned was Aran Jones, who had learnt Welsh as a second language. Other notable members included the poet and musician,Twm Morys(who won the chair at the 2003 nationaleisteddfod), DrSimon Brooks,former editor of the Welsh language current affairs magazineBarn,Judith Humphreys,a Welsh actress and DrJerry Hunter,an AmericanHarvardgraduate who moved to Wales to learn Welsh and has remained in Wales ever since, working in academic posts at theUniversity of Wales.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^"Activists warn of new train demos".BBC News.31 January 2005.
- ^"Dales park approves new homes sales only to locals".The Guardian.London. 20 January 2005.Retrieved31 October2007.