Nominations for New West Surrey Council Formalised – Few Independent Options

Published on: 10 Apr, 2026
Updated on: 11 Apr, 2026

By Martin Giles

Candidates for the forthcoming West Surrey Council Election have now been nominated and published. The deadline for nominations was 4pm yesterday (April 9).

The election is to be held on Thursday, May 7. The new council will shadow the existing borough, district and county councils until taking over next April but certain decisions will need to be deferred to them for endorsement in the interim period.

In the ten Guildford wards, the lack of non-national party and Independent candidates is notable, given their previous level of representation at borough and county level. In West Surrey, there are just two Independent candidates, two Residents for Guildford and Villages and one Peace Party.

Guildford Wards in West Surrey Election

Every Guildford ward has two Conservative, two Green Party, two Liberal Democrats, two Reform UK and one Labour candidate standing.

Despite holding seven seats at Guildford Borough Council, just two R4GV candidates are standing, both in the Horsleys ward, but perhaps surprisingly nowhere else.

Nigel Manning, formerly a senior member of the GBC Conservative group until he lost his seat in 2023, is standing in Ash ward as one of the two Independents. Tim Wolfenden is the other, standing in Guildford South East, and John Morris, Peace Party, is making his, by now, traditional stance in a Guildford election in the Guildford West ward.

See candidate lists, ward by ward, below…