A COUNTY council seat in North Herefordshire which was previously held by the Conservatives has been won by the Green party.

Ellie Chowns won the Bishop’s Frome and Cradley by-election by a comfortable margin over Conservative candidate Ross Carter gaining 471 votes to Mr Carter’s 299.

Liberal Democrat candidate Jeannie Faulkner was third with 251 votes and Roger Page, Labour, was left in fourth place with 19 votes.

This means there are now four Green councillors on Herefordshire Council - all women and all representing wards in the north of the county.

Dr Chowns said: “I am really uplifted by the support given to me by the residents of Bishop’s Frome and Cradley - I pledge to do my very best for them on Herefordshire Council.

“The Greens have been on a winning streak in the county and I am pleased to be a part of it. The public like what they see. Green councillors have earned a good reputation for working in a civil and co-operative manner across party lines but they do not shrink from holding the council to account.”

The by-election was called after Patricia Morgan, Conservative deputy leader of Herefordshire Council, resigned so she could sail around the world with her husband.

Dr Chowns, who lives at Canon Frome with her husband and two teenage sons, first contested Bishop’s Frome and Cradley in 2015 as the sole challenger to the Conservatives.

It was the second county by-election win this year for the Greens. Green candidate Trish Marsh won Leominster South in March with a big majority following the death of an independent councillor.

Another Leominster Green councillor, Jenny Bartlett, first won her place on the council in a 2014 by-election when she took a seat from the Conservatives beating UKIP and other candidates.

The Greens gained a bonus in this month’s by-election when the It’s Our County party publicly came out in support of Dr Chowns and joined her campaign. “I would like to thank IOC for backing me – like-minded campaigners should work together whenever they can,” she said.