THE Green Party won its second seat on the Forest of Dean District Council with a by-election win in Lydbrook and Ruardean at the expense of UKIP. 

The by-election was triggered when UKIP councillor Colin Guyton unexpectedly announced he was stepping down. 

The new Green councillor is Sid Phelps who achieved a 13 per cent swing from UKIP and also overtook Labour who missed out by four votes against Cllr Guyton in the 2015 council elections. 

The turnout was 25.8 per cent and Cllr Phelps won with 360 votes with UKIP’s Roy Bardo pushed into fourth place with 113. 

The Greens’ share of the vote increased from just under nine per cent in 2015 to 35 per cent in the by-election. 

While UKIP’s proportion was down around half a percentage point at 11 per cent, it was a much smaller turn-out than in 2015. 

Conservative Kevin White was second with 248, Labour’s Karen Brown was third with 231 and Heather Lusty of the Liberal Democrat was fifth with 67.   

Cllr Phelps, who also is a Soudley and Ruspidge parish councillor, said voters had responded to the Greens’ positive message and seeing campaigners. 

He said: “We worked very hard – we must have knocked on 95 per cent of the doors in the ward. 

“People liked the fact that we getting out there and listening to them. 

“The biggest issues on the doorstep were local such as the closure of the viaduct. 

“I’m looking forward to representing the people of Lydbrook and Ruardean on the council.” 

There are three district councillors for Lydbrook and Ruardean – the others are Independent Andrew Gardiner and Labour’s Bruce Hogan.