A WELSH Parliament committee has recommended that a campaign to stop Welsh place names being changed into English should be debated on the floor of the Senedd.

More than 18,000 people had signed an online petition claiming that indigenous place and house names are gradually being eroded, resulting in the nation “little by little losing its heritage”.

The report presented to the Senedd’s petitions committee on Tuesday noted that, while the debate around changing Welsh names to English is not new,  “discourse around the issue has gathered momentum in recent years”.

In 2015, Anglesey Council unanimously approved a motion calling on the Welsh Government to significantly strengthen local authorities’ powers to protect Welsh historical names.

More recently, broadcasters including Huw Edwards and Tudur Owen have been active in highlighting the issue in their own communities, with oft-referred to examples including Anglesey’s Porth Trecastell often being called ‘Cable Bay’ and Llyn Bochlwyd in Snowdonia often referred to as ‘Lake Australia’.

While there is no legislation in place to restrict the practice, many authorities implement their own informal measures by urging homeowners not to anglicise the names of their homes or smallholdings.

Although they currently have no legal jurisdiction to refuse requests to change names into English, any applications received by authorities including Anglesey and Gwynedd see the applicant asked to reconsider and return after a two-week “cooling off” period.

While the petition attracted widespread support, however, evidence supplied by local authorities suggested that only a small number of applications were being made for individual properties.

According to Gwynedd Council, of 140 notifications of house name changes received during 2019, only six went ahead to change from a Welsh name to an English name.

While in Ceredigion during 2018-19, 44 applications to give new houses Welsh names were received and four applications to give new houses English names.

But, during the year, only 10 applications to change a house name from English to Welsh were received by the authority.

Addressing the petitions committee meeting, Leanne Wood expressed her disappointment that efforts by Plaid Cymru MS Dai Lloyd to bring in legislation on the matter were not supported by the Welsh Government in 2017.

Neil McEvoy, the WNP’s sole member in the Senedd, reiterated his party’s policy that the price of changing a house name from Welsh to English should sky-rocket from £55 (as is the case in Gwynedd) to £10,000 to deter the practice.

Committee members acknowledged that time to discuss the issue on the Senedd floor was “tight” before May’s Senedd elections, but proposed that it should be brought back due to the strength of feeling on the issue.

In her response to the committee, the minister with responsibility for the Welsh language pointed out that signage standards places a duty on local authorities not to treat the Welsh language less favourably than English.

This means that Welsh place names, where they exist, must be placed on all road signs and other materials with the effect of normalising those names through their presence in visually prominent positions, and ensuring they are not displaced.

On individual property names, Eluned Morgan MS went on to note that while the Government was continuing to collage evidence and information, legislation could be used if necessary.