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AN administration error has resulted in a county council seat being uncontested in next month’s elections by the Conservative party where they currently have a 2,500 majority.

County councillor Simon Gimson was expected to defend his seat representing the Shalford division, but due to a mistake by Conservative agent Andrew Barrand, the party will not have a candidate for the ward.

Cllr Gimson was elected in a by-election two years ago with 3,602 votes, following the resignation of Tony Rooth. This was 2,515 more votes than the Liberal Democrat candidate Andrew Barnes, who came in second.

Following the mistake, Mr Barrand handed in his resignation, which has been accepted.

The error means UKIP is the only political party fielding a candidate in every one of Surrey County Council’s 80 divisions.

“I am disappointed that Conservative supporters will not have a candidate,” Cllr Gimson said. “It has been a privilege to represent Shalford.

“I have enjoyed particularly working with the parish councils, which do fantastic work locally.

“I am just sad. It is disappointing that I am not going to be able to stand because of a mistake. The thing that upsets me most is the Conservative supporters have not got a Conservative candidate.

“It is not about me, it is about them having a candidate.”

Cllr Gimson said he was going to take a pause to think and decide what he would be doing next, but that professionally he will continue to work in the transport sector as a consultant.

Alan Young, chairman of the Guildford Conservatives, said: “The long and the short of it was the agent for the county council elections basically omitted Simon Gimson’s papers. It was a human error.

“I think it is deeply regrettable because he was a very highly regarded member of the county council and I think a lot of people were looking forward to him being able to continue to serve. It is a great shame for him to not be able to.

“He will be greatly missed but we will look for the earliest opportunity for him to return to frontline politics.”

With the omission of Cllr Gimson, voters will be able to choose from Rose Seber, Labour, George Johnson, UKIP, and George Potter, Liberal Democrats.

Sue Doughty, chairman for the Guildford Liberal Democrats, said without a Conservative candidate, it would be a straight fight between her party and UKIP.

“We will take this fight seriously,” she said.

“It has to increase the possibilities for us. There will be some Conservative voters who would never dream of voting UKIP, but would want to use their vote.”

Angela Gunning, Guildford Borough Councillor for Labour said the vote for Shalford was going to be very interesting.

“You can’t tell what will happen here,” she said.

“One major candidate is missing, and a rival, UKIP, has appeared. So, the distribution of votes, who can say?”

Garreth Evans, chairman of UKIP Guildford, said, he thinks that Mr Johnson’s chances of winning the Shalford seat have been enhanced.

“First of all it is unfortunate the Conservative candidate did not get on the ballot paper because all of us need to assure democracy is seen to be actually achieved,” Mr Evans said.

“That is a sadness at one point, as we want to win as cleanly as possible.

“But, secondly, for those Conservative voters who will be getting their ballot papers through the post, when they go to vote for whoever it is they choose, I think at that point if it was an alternative vote, and they were voting for their second choice, I suspect it would be UKIP.

“The question is, will that translate into a first choice? There is a reasonable chance many will feel closer to policies of UKIP and I think we have a very good chance there.”