Greens attracted more votes in South Glos than ever before!
This morning those of us who weren’t up all night at a count woke to news of gains across the country for the Green Party, Labour, Lib Dems and Independents, and many losses for the Conservatives. For the Green Party nationally, yesterday’s election generated hundreds of new seats for our party. Results are still being counted but Greens have become the largest party in East Hertfordshire and Folkestone & Hythe, and, in Mid Suffolk, gained overall control of the first majority Green council in the Northern hemisphere.
In South Gloucestershire, we fielded candidates in 16 of the 61 seats this year – more than double the number we fielded in 2019. Although we did not win any seats this time, across the district we saw a strong showing for our Green candidates. We attracted 4% of all the South Glos votes, averaging 7% of the votes in the seats we stood in. In contrast, in the 2019 local elections we attracted just 2% of the votes (6.8%% average across the seats we stood in then). Our increased vote share was particularly encouraging given that we only actively campaigned in one ward this election.
Some election highlights
In Filton, our target ward, our candidate, Dan Boardman, came third behind the two Labour councillors elected. In Thornbury, Jen Gash was also the highest placed candidate not to be selected, coming in fourth behind the three Lib Dems selected. In Bitton and Oldland Common, another ward that we did not campaign in, Peter Hallett picked up an impressive 13% of the vote, with fellow Green Sarah Freeman picking up a further 9% in the same ward. In Emersons Green, Siân Harris attracted 8% of the vote despite a design error in the local free magazine accidentally omitting her photo and adding her bio and local volunteering to the Labour candidate who alphabetically preceded her. In Bradley Stoke North, we fielded our youngest candidate; 18-year-old James Nelson celebrated his first opportunity to vote by voting for himself. We were again inspired and energised by Young Greens, here and across the country. You can see all the results here.
Listening to local people
Obviously we are disappointed not to have picked up any seats on South Glos Council this time. But the election campaign was about more than winning seats. It was an opportunity to meet with local residents and hear more about what really concerns the people of South Gloucestershire. In Filton, we heard people’s concerns about transport, houses with multiple occupants and feeling forgotten in a generally more rural district. From Bitton and Oldland Common residents we heard concerns about raw sewage dumped in the rivers where people like to walk their dogs, wild swim and appreciate nature. In Emersons Green, we heard praise for our campaign against the throughabouts expansion on the ring road. Elsewhere, voters told us how they felt disenfranchised by the border changes and that their votes made no difference – a concern probably reflected in the low turnout. Everywhere, people told us about poor bus services and potholes!
This latest election shifts South Gloucestershire Council from Conservative-led to no overall control. Councillors of different political parties will need to work together. And this is an opportunity for local Greens to work alongside these councillors and hold them to account. Our Council declared a climate emergency in 2019 but this has yet to be effectively embedded throughout Council decision making. All parties made bold environmental promises in their election leaflets. We are watching our new councillors and would welcome opportunities to work with them and bring our wealth of skills and experience to tackling the huge shared challenges we face, both locally and world-wide.
Parish and town wins
And, while we did not gain any new district councillors in South Glos in yesterday’s election, there is cause to celebrate at a more local level as we welcome six new Green parish and town councillors (read more about our election wins on Bradley Stoke and Thornbury Town Councils):
- Pete Watts, Charfield Parish Council
- Dan Boardman, Filton Town Council
- Carolina Echegaray, Westerleigh and Coalpit Heath Parish Council
- Alan Lankester, Frampton Cotterell Parish Council
- James Nelson, Bradley Stoke Town Council
- Danny Bonnett, Thornbury Town Council
The election campaign may be over but the work of South Glos Greens for South Gloucestershire is very far from over. Thank you to all who voted for us and all who helped with our campaign, from South Glos and beyond.
Get involved!
If you’ve been inspired to get involved and help us work towards a fairer, greener South Gloucestershire, here are some ways you can do so:
- Following us and sharing our posts on social media
- Telling your friends about what Greens in South Glos are doing
- Sharing your stories and telling us what issues matter to you
- Let us know if you can help with preparing for the General Election
- Join the Green Party!