Totnes Tories in "open primary" contest

In what is claimed to be the first open primary in Britain, the voters of Totnes are being given the chance to vote for who may be the Conservative candidate at the next election. Three worthies have put their names forward. What I haven't been able to find out is if these three have been formally chosen by a panel of the Conservative Party. It would be nice to think that any Conservative member could put his or her name forward without being vetted beforehand. Then a prospective candidate could announce their intention of standing and mount a campaign. All three are local Devon people. Totnes voters may want that, but will this primary idea exclude those from neighbouring counties or further afield?

It would also be nice to feel that Totnes is not the only constituency to get this democratic honour. As for primaries in Britain, this is probably the first open one but it is not the first closed one. That honour went to Reigate in 1970 when a primary was held between Chris Chattaway and Geoffrey Howe. Chattaway went thataway and Howe won the day.