AT A packed meeting Clwyd South Welsh Conservative Association selected John Bell as their Candidate for the Welsh Assembly election in May 2007.

Mr Bell, a resident of the constituency, is the deputy chairman (Politics) of the Association and of North Wales Area Council.

He campaigned in the Wrexham Council election in 2004 and stood as the Parliamentary Candidate for Delyn in the 2005 General Election.

After 20 years of experience in industry and 19 in education - currently employed as a lecturer at the Welsh College of Horticulture - and with a degree in economics and politics, he says he feels he has the experience and knowledge to serve Clwyd South.

He said: 'Under Labour, the Welsh Assembly Government has been as much use to the people of North Wales and Clwyd South as the Millennium Dome.

'Apart from their incompetence, Labour simply don't understand that devolution is not about transferring power from bureaucrats in London to bureaucrats in Cardiff but about empowering local authorities, communities and individuals so that decisions about schools, hospitals, housing, police, transport, planning and so forth are made locally, according to the wishes of those who use these services and pay for them through Labour's ever-increasing Council Tax.'

He concluded: 'As a local resident, Clwyd South's problems are my problems, my aim will be to ensure we are no longer ignored by Labour and the Welsh Assembly.'