SOUTH WEST Surrey Lib Dems say the swing from Tory to Lib Dem, if replicated at the next general election, would see their prospective parliamentary candidate Simon Cordon win the seat with 22,465 votes to the Conservatives 22,372.

Mr Cordon came within 861 votes of taking the seat from Virginia Bottomley in 2001.

But Tory prospective parliamentary candidate Jeremy Hunt insists that his party got 300 more votes in the parts of Waverley included in the South West Surrey constituency.

Mr Cordon told The Herald: "I'm absolutely elated. In terms of the parliamentary seat, these are different elections but it can't be anything but good news.

"We knew how to fight a campaign: on issues that matter to local people. Waverley (under the Conservatives) has been a do-nothing council."

In their election manifesto, the Lib Dems pledged to review the proposed East Street redevelopment. The Crest Nicholson and Sainsbury's proposals, voted through by the then Conservative majority, were universally opposed by the Lib Dems, who have pledged to scale down the redevelopment and ensure traffic, retail and environmental studies are conducted before the final scheme gets the go-ahead.

"As far as East Street is concerned, the Tories rushed to do the wrong thing for both Farnham and Waverley," said Mr Cordon.

"With both the borough and the town being Liberal Democrat, I hope we can work together to get the best for local people."

Notable Lib Dem winners in Farnham wards were current Mayor of Farnham Dr Penny Marriott and prominent Farnham town councillor and former town mayor Victor Scrivens.

Husband and wife Chris and Anne Mansell have won seats on both the town and borough councils. Mrs Mansell is a volunteer co-ordinator for the Winterwatch homeless shelter.

Notable losers were Conservative members of what had been the ruling executive body of the council, David Munro and Graham Lambert.

And after defeats for veteran Godalming councillors Danny and Peg Denningberg, Waverley has no Labour members.

Conservative leader David Harmer, who doubled his majority in his Hindhead ward, said the redevelopment of East Street was probably a factor in his party's defeat. But he thought this year's council tax increases, which he says were forced on the council by a shortfall in its grant from central government, were mostly to blame.

"The biggest factor was council tax, from my experience. We got the blame for being a tax collector."

Mr Harmer said his party had "lost some good people" in last Thursday's poll: David Munro, Graham Lambert, Michael Goodridge and Neil Jackson.

Asked if he was worried about the future of the East Street scheme, Mr Harmer said: "In a sense I'm worried. I don't know what they (the Lib Dems) want to do.

"We negotiated a contract with a lot of financial capacity, so there's no excuse for not being able to secure a sensible scheme, but obviously it will have to be financially viable for the council and the developers.

"I would be disappointed if they blew it and I would hate it if nothing happened for another 15 years."

Asked if he would continue as Tory leader, he insisted the title is chairman, not leader, and that that would be decided before the next council meeting. "I will offer my services," he said.