Greens debut on SW county councils

05 June 2009

South West England county map The Green Party has gained its first seats on County councils in the South West in the local elections on 4 June 2009. Green county councillors were elected in Devon and in Gloucestershire. This brings the number of principal authorities with Green councillors in the South West up to four, the others being Bristol City Council and North Somerset Council, who already have one Green councillor each. The party already has a number of district councillors and town councillors across the region.

In Devon, Paula Black was elected councillor for Totnes Rural after polling 32.4% of the vote, ahead of the defending Liberal Democrat councillor. She becomes the first Green member of Devon County Council.

In Gloucestershire, Sarah Lunnon was elected councillor for Stroud East after polling 41.7% of the vote, ahead of the defending Labour councillor. She becomes the first Green member of Gloucestershire County Counil.

Philip Booth, a Green district councillor for Stroud, commenting on the result said: "This is a magnificent result - and across Stroud District, Greens came in with shed loads of votes which could mean overall we have the second highest votes across Stroud District. We are long overdue electoral reform that would see all those voting Green represented in local Councils and Westminister."

Sarah Lunnon, who is already a Stroud dIstrict councillor and leader of the Green group said: "What matters now is what we can do together to meet these twin challenges before us. The environmental movement has been accused for too long of not understanding economics, yet it is now becoming ever more apparent that without a sustainable environment we can not have a stable economic system."

Sarah concluded: "As a County Councillor I will remind the administration that Climate Change is not optional, that we need action not rhetoric."

Close calls

Green candidates also came close to being elected in other local elections in the South West. In Bristol, five candidates came in second place, ahead of the Conservative and Labour candidates in their wards, including a 31% share of the vote received by Daniella Radice in Ashley ward.

In Cornwall, Green candidates came in second place in both of the St Ives divisions, ahead of the Liberal Democrat, UKIP and Labour candidates in both cases. In St Ives North, Tim Andrewes was second to the winning Conservative candidate by only 24 votes.

Elsewhere

In total, the party fielded 139 candidates across the South West region, for the four existing County Councils, Bristol City Council and the two new Unitary Councils, Cornwall and Wiltshire. Many of these candidates came in third place ahead of Labour.

The Green gains in the South West were matched by others around the country. The party gained its first county council seats in Cambridgeshire (1 seat) and Suffolk (2 seats). In Norfolk the Greens gained 5 new seats, brining their total to 7, and the party gained a second seat in Lancashire.

Results from the European election, also held on 4 June, are expected late on Sunday 7 June.