As promised the list of candidates nominated for Oxted South is as follows:
Marjory Broughton - Labour
Michaela O'Brien - Green
Liz Parker - Conservative
Tony Stone - UKIP
Robert Wingate - Lib Dem.
On reading this list two things immediately jumped out at me.
1. Democracy is alive and well in Oxted South with 5 candidates including all three major parties. Very few other wards in the country, let alone Tandridge will be this hotly contested.
2. However, neither Labour nor the Lib Dems could field a candidate who lives in the ward. For the Lib Dems, this is excusable - their candidate lives in a neighbouring ward and they do not hold out any hope of winning the seat. But the Labour candidate doesn't even live in Surrey (according to the Offical Statement on the TDC website)! For a party that had a councillor representing the ward up until last year, not to field a candidate who live in nearby area seems to indicate an acceptance that they have no serious hope of winning here again.
