ELECTORAL REGISTRATION, PLANNING CONSENT AND COUNCIL TAX BANDS AT 214-216 MANCHESTER ROAD, NELSON

That this House notes with concern that, according to the Register of Electors, the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Pendle, Afzal Anwar, a barrister, shares the property at 214-216 Manchester Road, Nelson, with another 26 voters; believes the property was originally two terraced houses but was knocked into one; notes the explanation from the Party's election agent, Tony Greaves, that the property is home to the candidate, his father, three brothers, their families and contains 24 bedrooms; further notes that Pendle Council's Executive Director (Citizen and Community Services), Philip Mousdale, stated on 10th April that he had recently been informed that the property was in fact not one but three separate properties and that the Electoral Register would be amended accordingly; further believes that, in the light of these revelations and concerns in 2005 over registrations at the address of the former Liberal Democrat candidate for Parliament, Shazad Anwar, individual voter registration should be brought in without delay as a matter of the greatest urgency to safeguard the integrity of elections; and, in the meantime, calls upon Pendle Council to say who informed Philip Mousdale that the property had been converted and whether this has been independently verified and when planning permission for the conversion of the property at Manchester Road into three separate and self contained units was applied for and granted; and further calls on Pendle Council to disclose which council tax band the three converted properties now fall into and the band or bands that applied before the conversion.