Public Policy and Normative Language: Utility, Community and Nation in the Debate over the Construction of Tryweryn Reservoir

Abstract

The flooding of the community of Capel Celyn in North Wales to create a reservoir in the early 1960s to provide water for Liverpool provoked much opposition in Wales and among Welsh representatives. This article examines the competing normative language, including the concepts utility, community and nation, which was used to justify and to attack the policy. In conclusion, it is argued that the policy can be held to have been unjust because of the inadequacy of Welsh representative institutions and the lack of recognition of the Welsh language in this period.