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Carmarthenshire Council is changing the way it considers new housing developments to try to better protect and develop the Welsh language.

From now on, when it comes to developments of five or more houses in rural areas and 10 or more in urban areas, applicants will have to consider the impact their development will have on the Welsh language.

Developers will also have to consider the Welsh language in their schemes with the aim of addressing the decreasing number of Welsh speakers in Carmarthenshire.

Census figures show there was a fall in the proportion of people who can speak Welsh in the county, from 20.8% in 2001 to 19% in 2011. Despite an increase in the population size, there was a decrease in the number of Welsh speakers from 582,000 in 2001 to 562,000 in 2011.

Councillor Alun Lenny, who chaired the council's planning committee said: “Planning applications are subject to many consultations, but bats and butterflies have more status than the Welsh language.

"There should be a consultation on language impact."

(Image: Carmarthenshire County Council)

The Carmarthen Town South councillor said non-Welsh speakers moving into big new developments and people who do speak the language leaving were having an impact in the county.

"Recent large housing developments of thousands of homes around Carmarthenshire have seen an increase in non-welsh speaking migrants moving to the area, which has sparked concern over protecting the Welsh language," he said.

"Add to this the fact that we are haemorrhaging thousands of young Welsh-speaking people up the M4 as they are moving away to university and college and then not moving back to the area."

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The approach is said to be in line with the Welsh Government's target to create a million Welsh speakers by 2050 and devote time to develop the status of the Welsh language in the county.

But how this approach will be put into practice remains unclear.

Mr Lenny said they were appealing to the Welsh Government to work with new developers to draw up and produce a methodology that clarified the impact housing developments had on the language.

In the future an independent planning inspectorate is hoped to be responsible for producing evidence.

The aim of Carmarthenshire Council is to create more local jobs as well as affordable housing, in order to entice more Welsh speaking young people to move back to the county, rather than them moving away to find work.

Llanelli's £200million Wellness and Life Science Village, that received planning permission last week and is hoped to provide 1,900 jobs in Carmarthenshire's largest town, is one example of an employment-creating project already in the pipeline.

Under the new council policy more consideration will also be given to the location of future developments.

The aim is for more development in rural, farming areas where there is a higher concentration of Welsh speakers.

Council leaders also want to see 1,000 more affordable homes across Carmarthenshire in the next two years.

Speaking to the council, Mr Lenny said: "Now is the time to develop the status of the Welsh language in the county. Providing houses in the right locations is essential."

The approach received unanimous backing from the opposition.

Mr Lenny added: "The Labour opposition group very strongly agreed with the motion which I was very glad about - to receive cross party support."

Councillor Tina Higgins, speaking on behalf of the opposition, added: “After the last census results the council set up a working group to save the language in Carmarthenshire.

"At the time, the leader wrote to the Minister asking for the Welsh language to be considered as part of TAN 20. The Planning Act 2015 allows us to make these decisions on a local level.

"We support the motion and thank the cross party group that made recommendations,” adds Ms Higgins.

Ffred Ffransis, a spokesperson for Cymdeithas y Iaith (The Welsh Language Society), said: "Cymdeithas yr Iaith congratulate Carmarthenshire County Council on giving leadership to other authorities in insisting that the effect of all planning decisions on the Welsh language is taken into consideration.

"If implemented, this would overturn the decision of Government inspectors who insisted that the current LDP only considers the language as a material planning issue in wards where over 60% of the population speak Welsh.

"The Welsh language belongs to all of us, and we must plan so that young people see a future for themselves in our local communities."