CANDIDATES are gearing up for a High Wycombe council by-election in a ward that regularly changed seats between the main parties.

Voters will be asked to choose a Wycombe District Council member for Totteridge after Conservative Cllr Joel Foley resigned to move away from the area.

The other seat was held by Labour’s Glyn Galbraith until his death in February last year and then won by Liberal Democrat Steve Guy.

Tory candidate Lakshan Wanigasooriya, 34, said: “My message is very simple, I want to be a people’s councillor.”

He pledged to focus on local issues such as parking and rubbish collection Mr Wanigasooriya, a customer care administrator of Denewood, High Wycombe, said: “I am very confident that the people of Totteridge will give me a convincing victory.”

He claimed 'nobody has ever seen' Cllr Guy - a claim that Cllr Guy told the Bucks Free Press is without foundation.

Labour candidate Ian Bates said the poll would be a ‘different story’ from last year’s by-election as he said the General Election polls bring out more Labour supporters.

He said: “I am very hopeful. I don’t think it is a foregone conclusion – there is a lot of work to be done.”

Chemical engineer Mr Bates, 52, said he has a ‘long history of commitment to the community than either the Lib Dems or Conservatives’, He was a Buckinghamshire County Council member from 1997 to 2005.

Liberal Democrat candidate Jen Joseph said her campaign issues include the council’s closure and Holywell Mead outdoor swimming pool and possible re-location of Wycombe Museum.

She said: “I’m very concerned about the loss of businesses in our district.

“At one point it had some of the major employers and from the eighties it has lost them hand over fist.

“How do we encourage people into the district? They tax them out of the district.”

Both seats were up for election in 2007 where the Conservatives got 993 votes, Labour 1,051 votes and Lib Dems 389 votes.

Mr Guy – the Lib Dem General Election candidate for Wycombe – got 733 votes at last year’s poll compared to Mr Bates’s 214 for Labour and Tim Hewish’s 408 for the Conservatives.

Applications to vote by post must be received by the council by 5pm on Tuesday. Call 01494 421180 for information.