Long time Worthing resident Claire Hunt has been elected to Worthing Borough Council in the May elections, the second Green councillor to ever sit on the local council, and the first to be elected in Goring.
By the numbers: From a vote share of only 9.5% in 2021, the Greens received over half of the vote share in the ward in the May 2023 elections, defeating the conservatives by almost 500 votes. Claire Hunt received 1597 votes, the highest vote of any candidate across Worthing in these elections whilst Goring also had the highest turnout of any ward in the local elections at 46%.
Claire is a local campaigner actively involved with many community projects, including volunteering for Breathing Spaces, a Transition Town Worthing project. As lead volunteer she co-manages a community garden at Maybridge Keystone Centre, a wildflower site in Sompting, and Garden Club sessions at CREW Climate Resilience Centre. She also runs a volunteer community garden. Claire has actively campaigned against the development on Goring Gap and sewage pollution.
Claire says: “I’m delighted that we were able to do this for the dedicated Green voters who stayed loyal for so long, and deeply grateful to everyone who would normally vote for a different party for choosing to have a change in Goring. It’s thrilling to be part of the break-through that sees Greens gaining seats on loads more local councils where we didn’t have one.”
People want change from politics as usual and Greens are stepping up. The Greens have gained a record number of seats across the country in the recent local elections: 200 seats – the highest ever growth in the party – and 155 of those gains were from Conservatives.
