A PARISH council was left with just four councillors, instead of its normal ten, after an election nomination bungle.

Members of Hazlemere Parish Council were left red-faced after four existing councillors incorrectly filled out their nomination forms in the run-up to the district and parish elections two weeks ago, making them null and void.

Out of the eight candidates that wanted to be re-elected - two members had stood down - only four managed to fill in their forms correctly and as a result were the only ones re-elected to represent the parish.

Before they can put their name forward as councillors, candidates must be nominated and seconded by two people. Both the people backing their bid must be from the area the candidate wishes to stand in, but the Hazlemere members who failed to get back on the council got their nominations seconded by people from outside their ward, making them void.

David Cox, who covers Hazlemere south, was one of the members who got his nomination in right.

He said: "There are four official properly nominated members of our parish council. We should be at least ten because that was how strong we were before the election but members failed to fill in their nominations correctly. It was just one of those silly mistakes."

Cllr Cox, who also represents Hazlemere South on the district council, added: "It's a fairly straightforward thing but they made a boo boo."

But the council was expected to be back up to full capacity by Tuesday evening during its general meeting as the failed candidates will be voted back on by current members.