Julia Hilton is Hastings’s first Green councillor as she swept to victory in both elections to Hastings Borough Council and East Sussex County Council.

In the borough council ward of Old Hastings it was a landslide victory as Ms Hilton recorded 1,032 votes, the other three parties could only manage 937 votes between them.

In the county council ward of Old Hastings and Tressell Ms Hilton’s win was less emphatic but she still cruised to victory with 1,125 votes, her closest rival, Labour’s Ruby Cox had 1,013, 112 votes behind.

For Julia Hilton this will be a sweet tasting moment, she has worked hard and put a lot of effort in to establishing herself in the Old Hastings ward. In 2018 she was a tantalising 29 votes short of victory.

While the 2018 result was a disappointment it did put in place a firm foundation for this week’s success: “A lot of people last time round thought they would like to vote Green but thought we wouldn’t win but with the result we had we could now say to them that if they’d followed their convictions they would now have had a Green councillor in place,” Ms Hilton told Hastings In Focus.

She thinks people understand that it will be good to have a different voice at the council table and especially as it is a voice that will not have to, as she says: “…tow the party line”.

“We’ve worked hard in the ward and been very active raising issues that otherwise would not have been raised,” she says.

Just after her victory in Old Hastings was announced Ms Hilton said: “This shows that if you vote Green, you can get Green.

“I’m going to be in listening and learning mode for the next few weeks and months, seeing where we can join the dots and work together, bringing all the passions and skills of this amazing community to build a town where everybody’s needs are met within planetary limits.”

Before the election Julia Hilton spoke to Hastings In Focus and shared her vision for a greener Hastings and for a world in which people’s needs can be met within the planetary limits. Hear what she had to say by clicking on the link below.