Press Edition:
Cornwall Council Election – June 2009.
Dear Residents of St Endellion Electoral District
I am writing to thank all those who voted for me in the Cornwall Council Election. I also wish to thank Allan, Anna, Brian, Francis, James, Jane, Julie, Linzi, Lisa, Memet, Nick, Nicki, Sandy, Stuart, Trevor and Veronica for their active support and hard work promoting my campaign.
Standing against former long-serving North Cornwall District Councillors with long-standing loyalties and building a campaign from scratch the day after nominations closed on May 7th was always going to be challenging. I was very heartened by the support I received and how the campaign team just grew and grew so that we began to get into full stride in the final 4th week of the campaign. I was also heartened by the warm reception, hospitality and interest of those electors I managed to meet personally. All considered, my final share of the total vote was creditable and a healthy foundation for the future.
Many issues emerged in the course of my conversations with local residents. The unfair manner in which local social housing resources are often not allocated to meet the needs of local residents and young families by Housing Trusts not based in Cornwall was a recurring concern. Such socially dispersing housing allocation practices cause severe dislocation and disruption to our communities and to communities elsewhere. We must urgently press for local family and social connections to rate more highly in social housing allocation criteria.
The most shocking thing I learned during the campaign is that non-resident second ‘home’ owners can vote twice in local elections – both in their real home area and in the area where they have a second ‘home’ – and that the Conservative Party was actively canvassing the votes of non-residents. My campaign was founded on serving Cornwall and her committed full-time residents. I believe that multiple votes based on multiple property ownership has no place in a ‘One Person – One Vote’ democracy. I will now be campaigning to have that undemocratic inequality abolished.
Should you share my view that property based multiple voting in a ‘One Person – One Vote’ democracy is wrong and should be abolished you may wish to write to our MP, Dan Rogerson, to ask him to press, at Westminster, for the abolition of property based multiple voting in local government elections. Dan’s e-mail address is rogersond@parliament.uk
Proper and sincere environmental stewardship is essential to underpin truly sustainable economic and social well-being. I will continue to work, both locally and further afield, towards a Cornwall that strikes a properly sustainable balance between environmental care, economic vibrancy and the well-being of our communities.
Yours, with thanks and appreciation,
Angus Lamond
www.anguslamond.wordpress.com
June 12th 2009
Angus Lamond 