Plaid councillor suspended over migration comments

Plaid Cymru is investigating a councillor who expressed concern about the effects of immigration on Welsh.

The party said it had suspended Gwynedd councillor Gareth Anthony Roberts after it received complaints about comments he made in a meeting.

He had said Bangor was "no longer a Welsh-speaking area" and expressed concern at the number of languages being spoken in his old primary school.

Plaid said Roberts had resigned from the party's Gwynedd group, while Roberts said migration brought many benefits, but that those wanting "to integrate" were being failed if they are unable to learn Welsh.

Roberts now appears on Cyngor Gwynedd's website as a member who does not belong to a political group.

During a Monday planning meeting he said: "Bangor is no longer a Welsh-speaking area.

"It was when I was a child, but it is no longer now. I can see Bangor diminishing in Welsh language population on a daily basis."

He claimed in the last five years as many as a thousand migrants had moved to the area.

"At... my old primary school, I spoke to the headteacher and she informed me that there's over 42 different languages being spoken in that primary school - 42.

"They're really struggling to cope with that number of new languages and they're struggling to implement Welsh as a language option."

Roberts said people living in houses of multiple occupation would want to have their own home and would have to move to surrounding areas as there were not enough properties in Bangor.

He added: "That's going to diminish the Welsh language considerably. So, I can speak from my experience and tell you I'm very concerned about the impacts of the Welsh language in Chwilog, and in the whole of this area."

After the meeting Robert said he loved migration and that Bangor had always been multi-cultural.

He told the BBC: "I'm concerned for the people that come to this country who really want to integrate, but we're failing them if they don't get the chance to learn and speak Welsh properly and help them get good jobs.

"Its so hard for the schools, but we have to have these discussions."

The comments, he said, were made during a discussion on housing development in Chwilog.

"I was warning what could happen elsewhere due to limited housing in Bangor," he said.

"If people have to move to surrounding areas it will affect the language in areas where more people speak Welsh."

Plaid Cymru said: "Following a formal complaint received by Plaid Cymru regarding councillor Gareth Anthony Roberts, Ward Dewi, Bangor, the councillor's membership has been temporarily suspended, and the councillor has resigned from Plaid Cymru's Gwynedd group.

"This is a neutral action until an investigation is carried out."