Plaid Cymru leader to establish Commission on Sustainable Communities

Urgent report on Welsh language communities first task of long term group

Plaid Cymru’s leader Leanne Wood has today announced the formation of a Sustainable Communities Commission.

The Commission will be headed by Llyr Gruffydd AM and Bethan Jenkins AM, and will develop the party’s vision for ensuring our communities are economically, environmentally and linguistically sustainable and able to flourish over the coming decades.

In addition to its longer term work, the Commission will report by Autumn this year on the future of the Welsh language at a community level fulfilling a pledge made by Ms Wood during her leaderhip campaign.

This is the second of a series of commissions to be announced by the new leader, following the appointment of an Economic Commission last month. The commissions are intended to look at key policy areas and feed into Plaid Cymru’s vision of a strong and sustainable Wales.

Plaid Cymru Leader Leanne Wood said;

“My aim is to pull together a group of experts, from both inside and outside the Party to be part of developing a long term plan to ensure that our communities overcome the huge challenges of today and flourish in the decades to come.

“Llyr and Bethan will lead on the work of this commission, reporting back on individual elements of the commission in stages over the next four years. I look forward to reading the first stage report of the group on the future of Welsh language communities soon. Welsh faces serious challenges at a community level, and all political parties have a duty to come up with answers to strengthening our unique national language in the 21st century."

Llyr Gruffydd AM, who will lead on matters relating to the environment, regeneration and housing, said:

“Creating sustainable communities is essential to the future success of our nation. We want to look at how we can rebuild and strengthen our communities, ensuring that were utilising the enormous natural resources of our nation along with the talent of all its people.

“Our work will consult widely on elements such as how we build our green economy, invest in our knowledge base and create the right infrastructure for a 21st century Wales.”

Bethan Jenkins AM will look at aspects of linguistic sustainability, she added:

“Sustainability is more than just being green. We also want to ensure a truly bilingual nation where both our languages are able to flourish. That means ensuring that, for example, communities are able to offer sustainable jobs, affordable homes and wider opportunities for our young people to stay and contribute to their communities.

“The first stage of this commission will focus on the Welsh language – looking at how we can ensure it flourishes as a living every-day language in our communities over the coming decades.

“Plaid Cymru has proven that it is committed to delivering for the people of Wales, and that is what our focus will be with this commission. Our aim is to bring forward clear and realistic recommendations that will benefit communities across the whole of Wales.”