PRESS
Evening Leader - 15:07:09
‘ Flintshire councillors hit out at over -development’
http://www.eveningleader.co.uk/news/Flintshire-councillors-hit-out-at.5461013.jp
Evening Leader - 19:06:09
‘Wrexham council leader hits back at ‘not welsh enough’claims’
http://www.eveningleader.co.uk/news/Wrexham-council-leader-hits-back.5382186.jp
Evening Leader - 05:05:09
‘Wrexham has no plans to become part of Cheshire’
http://www.eveningleader.co.uk/news?articleid=5233923
Evening Leader – 24:04:09
‘Anti England-Wales ‘merger’ group set for public launch’
http://www.eveningleader.co.uk/news/Anti-EnglandWales-39merger39-group-set.5202961.jp
Daily Post Editorial - 26:02:09
What good will this plan bring to us ?
“Plaid Cymru members of Wrexham Council have uncovered a worrying economic blueprint which yokes parts of North East Wales with Merseyside. The strategy which has clearly been drawn up the other side of the border seems to be far more about what’s good for the Merseyside area than providing any benefit over here. The key priority of the strategy appears to be to expand the provision of housing in North East Wales for use by those in the North West of England as a commuting base.
The report refers to Welsh County Borough of Wrexham as the ‘Southern market area’ with the potential to meet the housing needs of Liverpool and Cheshire. Without wishing to sound unduly alarmist, this report has all the hall marks of an effective annexation of a huge chunk of North Wales for the benefit an over crowded Merseyside.
You don’t have to be a supporter of Plaid Cymru to find such a philosophy deeply worrying if not positively offensive. Worryingly this plan has been around for 6 years and has been adopted by Wrexham, Denbighshire and Flintshire councils with little if any public scrutiny. Several planning decisions have been made which appear linked to the strategy and its ethos claims Plaid, which, in the words of Councillor Carrie Harper amounts to ‘land grabbing’.
That’s an emotive phrase which we won’t use for now. But, Plaid Cymru is absolutely right to bring this dubious strategy into the public eye and ask questions we should all be asking. What is there in it for North East Wales or indeed Wales as a whole. What do we gain?
It’s hard to see what advantage there is to the region in being turned into a dormitory of Liverpool and the North West with all the negative effects this is inevitably going to have on the language, culture and way of life.
The Welshness of much of Wales has been progressively eroded over the decades, often by an influx of people across the border bringing their language and culture with them.
It’s not xenophobic to say that those who value our identity as a distinct Celtic Nation within the United Kingdom should be very alarmed indeed at the existence of this strategy and the motives behind it.”