LANGLAND voters will go to the polls in this month's Malvern Town Council by-election faced with with the 'choice' of just one real candidate.

Philip Guest, who was due to stand as a Local Independent Community candidate, announced on Monday that he would not be contesting the election against MTAG's Pat Merrick on October 31. He blamed "personal reasons".

However, because he missed last Wednesday's deadline for withdrawing as a candidate, his name will still be on poll cards currently being printed and the election will still go ahead, at a cost of about £2,000 to taxpayers.

Mr Guest said he had discussed his withdrawal at length with Mrs Merrick and Malvern Hills District Council, which is responsible for administering elections, but had been told that legally the election had to go ahead.

Technically, it means he could be elected for a seat he does not want to contest, as his name appears on poll cards. He has urged people not to vote for him.

"I'm not going to canvass or anything like that and I've actually said to Mary Wood, of the district council's electoral services, that I don't want to stand. Unfortunately, because of the law, it has to go ahead."

The district council's head of legal services, Nigel Snape, confirmed that the election would still go ahead. He said a similar election held in the ward last August had cost just over £2,200 to stage. He is expecting a similar cost for October 31 election.

He said: "Mr Guest hasn't withdrawn, he's still a candidate. There's a period within which candidates can withdraw and that period ran out last Wednesday." Mr Snape said that the only way the election could now be stopped would be if one of the candidates were to die.

He confirmed that poll cards were in the process of being printed.

The other candidate, Pat Merrick, said Mr Guest's withdrawal was a great shame, blaming it on mischievous people. She received a letter from one of his supporters urging her to withdraw before last Wednesday's deadline.

However, she said she was more worried about the cost to taxpayers of holding the election.

"Every time I see a leaflet or polling card I will think 'there's a little bit of money that's mine and everybody's in the town'," she said.

Another Malvern Town Council by-election held in the Link ward in June 2001 saw two candidates contesting two seats when a third candidate withdrew after the deadline, forcing the poll to go-ahead. That is estimated to have cost taxpayers £1,200.

Councillors Paul Tuthill and Viv Thompson were elected after independent candidate Victoria Evans pulled out.