Haslemere Town Council remains the only Conservative-controlled town council in Waverley following last week's local elections.

With both Godalming and Farnham town councils now firmly in the grip of the Lib Dems, in Haslemere four of the new faces on the town council are Conservatives, with only one additional seat going to the Liberal Democrats.

The new town councillors are Janet Smart, Roger Starr, Brigette Hewitt and Michael Dover. Suzan Lelliott, a previous Lib Dem councillor was re-elected to the town council after an absence of a number of years.

With the town council now made up of 12 Conservatives and six Lib Dems, the only casualty of the night among long-standing Tory town councillors was former Critchmere town councillor Ted Orchard.

Because of parish boundary changes Mr Orchard, 82,who had been a town councillor for more than 20 years and a former mayor, stood in the Shottermill ward. "I would like to congratulate the Conservatives on their success specially the town council," said Mr Orchard.

"It is a blow to my self esteem but it is a great relief to shed a large number of duties which were becoming onerous. If I had been elected I would have wanted to pursue two things, in particular revenue funding to make a great success of Haslemere organisations like Haslewey, Haslemere Hall, and the museum which need a fairer deal from Waverley.

"I would also have wanted to find a way of keeping the Wey Centre open for young people and not what the bureaucrats decide. What they want is a drop-in centre and maybe an internet cafe," he believed.

Mayor of Haslemere Stephen Mulliner said that he believed the town council made up of both Lib Dems and Conservatives "had done a good job.

"We've pushed on with the Healthcheck among other things and we get on with each other, with two members of the Lib Dems as chairmen of our committees.

"We all work for the good of the town," said Mr Mulliner, who is expected to hand over the mayoral reins to Michael Foster on May 15.

Paying tribute to the work of Mr Orchard, Mr Mulliner said that both he and Michael Biddiscombe, who is also an octogenarian and who was re-elected to the council last week, were "an incredible example to us all of how acute and effective people can be".

"Mr Orchard's knowledge is very broad, and he is genuinely a very special man. The town is very lucky to have had someone like him on the town council and we shall miss him."