WAVERLEY'S decision to hold the Weybourne and Badshot Lea by-election on a Saturday generated a muted response from the voting public, with a turn-out of just 29.3 per cent.

The move was aimed at ending the kind of voting apathy which marred the general election by encouraging those who work throughout the week into the polling stations.

The turn-out, although marginally higher than the last by-election which had 26.4 per cent, was lower than the Waverley borough election in May 1999, which had a turn-out of 36 per cent.

In a close race, Liberal Democrats retained the town and Waverley seats, Stewart Edge winning in Waverley with 507 votes and William Livesey taking the town seat with 509 votes.

Conservative candidate Stephen Hill came second in both contests, gaining 478 votes in Waverley and 485 for the town seat.

The result signals an improvement in fortune for the Conservatives after the disappointing general election results, gaining 46 per cent of the votes compared to 27 per cent in 1999.

South-west Surrey MP Virginia Bottomley said: "This result shows a massive swing to the Conservatives, and continues the trend of excellent growing grassroots support in local government.

"Warm congratulations go to Stephen Hill; he is an excellent and popular local candidate, who obviously has a bright future ahead of him."

Mrs Bottomley added: "I was disappointed to see such a low turn-out, despite the time of year. This should be something that all Members of Parliament in a democracy should be concerned about."

Chairman of the South West Surrey Conservative Association, Ann Mugford, said: "It is a marvellous swing to the Conservatives. At the count it was clear that the Liberal Democrats were very scared that they had lost."

Liberal Democrat and county councillor Janet Maines said she was not surprised that the Conservatives made up lost ground. "I have never seen a Conservative campaign like it. In the last day of the campaign, they were sending envelopes, addressed by hand and telephoning people constantly and employing 'scare tactics'.

"They constantly talked about the town council's precepts and how much council tax people are being charged. Our response was to emphasise the quality of service people are getting for the money which works out as little as 70 pence a week per household."

She concluded: "It was an interesting experiment holding the election on a Saturday, but I am not sure that any definite conclusions could be drawn from it as it was so close to Christmas. Politics was not at the top of most people's agenda."

However, Waverley's chief executive, Christine Pointer, returning officer for the by-election, felt the Saturday experiment had been a success.

"Saturday voting is a new incentive pioneered by Waverley and people voted with their feet. I am pleased with the turn-out and think that this method may be adopted again in the future to allow more flexible voting."

Mr Edge replaces Peter Cresswell who was elected to both council and borough ward in the 1999 local elections. Dr Cresswell resigned after taking a new job in Cheshire