Gwynedd elections - the ballot box tells Plaid Cymru what the people want

Subject: Letters page

Title "An education?"

Dear Editor

I hope that lessons will have been learned from the 2008 elections by those who lost touch with what the majority of the electorate wanted rather than what a few loud voices wished to impose upon on the rest of us, but I doubt it, they are far too entrenched. School closures was just the last straw in a series of calamities, education was and is a serious matter when there is little else our children can attain in this economic backwater created by many long years of increasingly unhinged Council 'policies'. The timing of Dafydd Iwan's call to have English taught as a second language was an example of the arrogance created by too many years in an apparently unassailable position within an oligarchy. The Dwyfor planning area appears to be a law unto itself because it is the only place in Wales where 'local occupancy restrictions' are imposed without just cause on carefully selected applications which are not for 'affordable homes', come to think of it, the Snowdonia National Park is also guilty of ignoring national guidance, EU law and UK legislation but it suffers from almost the same 'policies' plus the fact that the residents are second class citizens on their own land. The 'Tremadog Bay' area is so destitute that it attracts the lowest Local Housing Allowance in the whole of Wales, and most of the UK, some £30 per week less than neighbouring areas, why? Well, apparently it is because there is no work and the vast majority of houses for rent are Housing Association or Council properties which, when combined with the dearth of decent employment prospects, creates the largest 'ghetto' in the land. If you dig deep enough it is quite frightening to think that the 'Party of Wales' and a national park are responsible for so much misery in what was once considered to be a nationalist heartland by those people who had their heads in the sand.

Meirionnydd used to be an efficiently run area authority until it was merged with Gwynedd, decentralisation would be most welcome, so would the removal of planning controls from the SNPA which has a conflict of interest.

We sincerely hope that those who control the purse strings of Gwynedd County Council for the foreseeable future do indeed listen to what the people really want, unfortunately they have the mammoth task of unravelling the mess we find ourselves in today. They have our mandate, the ballot box has spoken, power to the people.

Evan Owen