LOCAL Liberal Democrats have been cleared of improper practice over their decision not to select long-standing councillor Janet Maines to contest the next county council elections.

Mrs Maines, who has been Lib Dem county councillor for Farnham North for 11 years, had anticipated being selected for re-election, but chose not to attend a hustings meeting of local Lib Dems in September after learning that Mary Hunt, currently a Lib Dem Waverley councillor, had been selected to stand against her.

Mrs Maines claimed this was contrary to the party's own guide for good practice, that stipulates that successful and long-standing councillors are unopposed.

In what appeared to be an earlier attempt to ostracise Mrs Maines, ex-Waverley Lib Dem Dr Rosemary Thomas had been approached to stand against her. But Dr Thomas declined the offer of the Farnham North seat and sought instead to contest Farnham Central.

Mrs Maines and Dr Thomas were so incensed that they chose not to attend a hustings meeting, which saw Mary Hunt receive 33 votes to Mrs Maines' 17 and Derek Seale beat Dr Thomas for the Farnham Central ward by 40 votes to 10.

The pair decided to report local Lib Dems to the South East Regional Party to investigate irregularities in the selection process.

In a statement this week, South West Surrey Lib Dems said this week the regional party had cleared them of any improper practice.

They said Mrs Maines' and Dr Thomas' refusal to attend the September hustings meeting was "ill-judged" and would have had "an adverse impact on their candidacy" and, in particular, "upon the election result at the hustings".

The Lib Dems also said the regional party criticised the pair for "leaking their comments to The Herald prior to the appeal being concluded".

The statement claimed that five "senior" members of the party had urged Mrs Maines to attend the hustings meeting.

The chairman of South West Surrey Liberal Democrats, Waverley councillor Nancie Mitchell, who chaired the hustings meeting, said: ""I personally deplore the false allegations that have been made in The Herald.

"We were confident that the process was carried out properly and fairly and I am pleased that the regional party has fully vindicated this.

"None of us have the right to deny our members the opportunity to choose their candidates in a one-member one-vote ballot. By not attending the hustings meeting Janet Maines literally de-selected herself."

The Lib Dem prospective parliamentary candidate for South West Surrey, Simon Cordon, said: "Personally, I am disappointed for Janet Maines, but I fear that both she, and the other individual involved, only have themselves to blame.

"Our work is more important than any of us alone. Nobody is bigger than the whole team."

A joint statement issued by Janet Maines and Dr Rosemary Thomas read: "Problems within the local organisation of the Liberal Democrats must have been evident to the public for the past few years.

"It became clear during the run up to the hustings that those problems would affect the outcome.

"By not attending the hustings, it was hoped that an investigation would be triggered which would focus on remedying the present difficulties within the party. Unfortunately, the review focussed narrowly on the process of the hustings itself and by doing so left the major concerns untouched."