Article 4 Test Run @ Cyngor Gwynedd...

A report entitled 'Article 4 Direction', authored by Gareth Jones - Assistant Head of Environment Department and Iwan Evans - Head of Legal Services, is to be presented to the Communities Scrutiny Committee on the 11th June, 2026. 

It is a very informative document, revealing a lack of candour not only on the part of cyngor Gwynedd but also it would appear on the part of Welsh government. 

The document can be found in the agenda pack for the meeting here - 
https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//documents/g5712/Public%20reports%20pack%2011th-Jun-2026%2010.30%20Communities%20Scrutiny%20Committee.pdf?T=10

At the full council meeting, held on the 14th, May, Gruffydd Williams, asked this question - 
Following the fact that article 4 was quashed by a court as a result of what has been ruled as misleading details by this Council, I previously asked if this Council would apologise to campaigners who fought so hard to get Article 4 in force, and there was no apology.
The Council's right of appeal has now been refused. Therefore, is the Council finally going to apologise to the campaigners for article 4, patriots, linguists and taxpayers, following the fact that it is now clear that a shortcoming in the key paperwork caused Article 4 to be quashed and that a sum of money of over half a million has been wasted?"

Response from the Cabinet Member for the Environment, Councillor Craig ab Iago - 
As I noted when answering a very similar question from the Member at the Council meeting in December, we remain determined to ensure that the people of Gwynedd have access to suitable housing in their communities.
That's why the Council introduced an Article 4 Direction – as part of a package of measures to manage the significant impact of second homes and short-term holiday accommodation on the housing market.
This decision was based on significant effort, including in-depth research, extensive consultation and expert advice.
Despite our disappointment with the legal outcome and our request to appeal the High Court's decision, I am confident that our decision to introduce Article 4 has been sound and appropriate. The Council acted responsibly and in good faith in addressing issues that are hugely important to the future of our communities.
This experience, including the 12-month period during which Article 4 was in place in the Gwynedd Planning Authority Area, will be key as we decide on the best way forward.  

ab Iago did not apologise.
Did he actually vote at cabinet for Article 4..?

Many people are of the belief that the near half a million pounds this has cost the public purse was money from cyngor Gwynedd's own coffers - it is not...

The Article 4 Direction report reveals that £311,683,05 has come from Welsh government...

  

4.48 '...which can be amended and re-used in the future'.

Why did Craig ab Iago not explain this?

Are Welsh government and cyngor Gwynedd acting together to control the housing market?

Empowered by the legal knowledge gained, it is apparent that the recent Article 4 action was not to actually implement Article 4 but an exercise in HOW to implement Article 4 in the future...

A test run and an opportunity for the council to be in a position to advise neighbouring authorities on the application of Article 4.
Regardless of the trauma and harm caused? 
Shocking... 

 

Will the new Plaid Cymru government now be supporting the Plaid controlled Gwynedd council in such matters? Will Gwynedd become a test bed for new Plaid policies?

It's not over... 

The meeting will be held on the 11th, June at 10.30am and can be viewed here - 
https://gwynedd.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/1098120

Something is so very wrong within Gwynedd council...

Nepotism, Cronyism And Bullying? - Cyngor Gwynedd Council...

Councillor Beca Brown presented a notice of motion re Neil Foden to a full council meeting of cyngor Gwynedd on the 4th December, 2025. The motion can be found in the agenda pack for the meeting - 
https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//mgChooseDocPack.aspx?ID=5505

There were also 6 questions put to the council by elected members. 
One raised by Councillor John Pughe Roberts asked - 

 
The rest of the leader's response along with the other question and answers can be found here - 
https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//documents/b15108/ITEM%206%20-%20QUESTIONS%2004th-Dec-2025%2013.30%20The%20Council.pdf?T=9 

John Nicholson, an ex governor at Ysgol Friars between 2013 and 2017, reports that he tried to raise concerns about Neil Foden but was not supported by other members of the board -
“If the maladministration was blatantly evident to me after just a few months of becoming a school governor, it must have been overwhelmingly clear to those members of staff who comprised the senior management team.
https://www.northwaleschronicle.co.uk/news/25655748.bangor-former-school-governor-reacts-neil-foden-report/

In the same article, Jan Pickles, appears to reply to Nicholson directly - 
“I understand that Foden was a controlling bully to children, staff and governors, and I don’t doubt he behaved that way with staff within the council’s education department.
“However, we are the adults in this situation. If he’s behaving like that with you as a governor, how is behaving with children?  

School governors did fail...
The chair and vice chair during the time of Foden's offending were Essi Ahari and Keith Horton - both serving police officers with North Wales Police. 
Is Pickles saying that experienced, senior police officers were bullied?
Did the officers give evidence to Pickles?

Councillor Richard Medwyn Hughes was also a governor during this time.
Hughes resigned after Foden's arrest but cyngor Gwynedd reinstated him last year.
For why...?

There can be repercussions for those who do raise concerns...
An example from a BBC article dated 2020 -

Gwynedd head teacher Neil Foden 'victimised staff'
"I felt victimised by Neil Foden due to the way he operated. You were either in his gang or you were not," person D told the panel.
He claimed he was never interviewed by school governors and that Mr Foden's daughter had investigated the allegations against him.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-51710557 
 
Neil Foden was an abusive bully and used the system to protect himself.
It is part of a culture that appears rife in Gwynedd that includes not just schools and the education department but many departments within the council.

Raising concerns in Gwynedd...
To raise a complaint about a senior officer in Gwynedd can be fraught with danger.
The culture means that complainants have on occasion been gaslit and smeared to others.
Foden used the 'vexatious complainants' approach to shut down complaints.
The children's SS use the term 'tiresome complainants'.

                                                                  ***********
Safeguarding children or safeguarding themselves? 
A reminder that the Pickles review was an 'extended' child practice review.
This means that some of the children were in the care of the local council or recently had been...

A whole team of social workers and their managers were meant to be protecting each child from predators such as Foden. 
All failed the children...
Were any of the kids in foster care?
Were Youth Justice involved?

The head of children's services is still 'absent from work' and Dafydd Paul, their senior safeguarding officer appears to have been replaced by Elliw Haf Hughes.

Leader of the council, Nia Jeffreys, could have explained what is happening within the department. 
She did not...nor did the cabinet member for children, or any of the senior officers present.

One Gwynedd councillor, Richard Glyn Roberts, saw through the mea culpa's -
Given the slowness in dealing with this issue and the lack of clinical focus on the procedural and organisational failures. one asks how we can have confidence in the leadership of the council.

Organisational failures of Gwynedd's senior officers will be detailed in the Woods report.
Councillors could ask Dafydd Gibbard to release this report which he has had in his possession since the Spring.

There was a question from Councillor Gruffydd Williams - 
Following the fact that article 4 has been quashed by Judge Justice Eyre and as a result of what he said, "that there has been significant misleading by the Officers of this Council", will the Council apologise to campaigners who have fought so hard to enforce article 4

Williams was answered by Craig ab Iago, cabinet member for the Enviroment.
The reference to officers misleading councillors was not properly answered...

The webcast of the full council meeting can be found here -
The translated feed is not working...
https://gwynedd.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/1044728

In other news, the job of Gwynedd's workforce development manager under social care is being advertised. Those interested should contact the current workforce development manager, Gillian Paul.

Something is so very wrong within Gwynedd council...