North Lancashire Green Party is a local party of the Green Party of England & Wales covering the districts of Lancaster and Wyre including Morecambe, Carnforth, Garstang, Fleetwood, and the Lune Valley.
local Elections 2025 – 4 greens elected!
Congratulations to our new Green County Councillors – Gina Dowding (Lancaster Central), Paul Stubbins (Lancaster East) and Hamish Mills (Lancaster South East) – who have all been elected to Lancashire County Council with big majorities! They will form a Green Group of 4 along with Cllr Sohail Asghar (Accrington West & Oswaldtwistle Central), doubling the number of County seats we previously held.
Sadly we missed out on some other hoped-for wins, as Reform UK made huge gains. They have taken control of Lancashire County Council, winning a majority (53) of the 84 seats.
Congratulations also to our youngest and newest Green City Councillor, Wilson Colley, whose excellent win in the John O’Gaunt by-election ensured that Greens remain the largest group (with 23 seats) on Lancaster City Council.
You can see the detailed County results here and our Councillors reactions to their wins here.
Nationally, Greens won 86 seats, which was a net gain of 43 seats across England, including breakthroughs onto three new councils. We now have a record 859 seats on 181 councils!
New Group on County Council: Progressive Lancashire
Following the elections the 4 Greens elected in Lancashire formed a new “Progressive Lancashire” grouping with 7 Independent Councillors to be a strong voice of opposition and challenge to the new ruling administration of Reform, and formed an agreement on actions, principles and aims, which you can read about here.
See also:
Some History: From Lancaster City Council, to Lancashire County Council, to Europe
Our first 5 Green Councillors were elected to Lancaster City Council in 1999. This rose to 7 in 2003, to 12 In 2007, down to 8 in 2011, up to 10 in 2019, to 21 in 2023, and up to 23 in 2024.
In 2001, Jonathon Sear became our first person elected to Lancashire County Council.
Jon Barry was Lancaster’s first Green Mayor in 2015/16.
Cllr Gina Dowding, a City Councillor (since 1999), and County Councillor for Lancaster Central (since 2013) was also (briefly – before Brexit!) a Green Member of the European Parliament for the North West.
You can learn more about Gina’s work at all levels at GinaDowding.org.uk/
We have been part of a shared administration of Lancaster City Council with other political parties since 2019.
Cllr Caroline Jackson was the first Green Leader of the Council from 2021-23.
In the 2023 Local Elections we won 21 (out of 61) seats on Lancaster City Council and emerged with 4 Councillors in the Joint Administration Cabinet along with 5 Labour and 1 Liberal Democrat Councillors.
Greens held the portfolios of Finance, Housing, Climate Emergency, and Economic Development. Cllr Caroline Jackson became the Deputy Leader.
In the 2024 General Election
Jack Lenox for Lancaster and Wyre received 5,236 votes, a 12.2% vote share – higher than 2015, our previous best, and triple our vote share in the last General Election in 2019.
Gina Dowding for Morecambe and Lunesdale received 2,089 votes, a 4.3% vote share.
Several resignations of Labour Councillors in 2024, and 2 by-election Green wins: in University Ward in July, and in Scotforth East in October, lead to a shift where we replaced Labour as the largest group on Lancaster City Council with 23 Councillors.
This makes us the joint second biggest group of elected Greens in the UK, along with Mid-Suffolk who also have 23 Green Councillors. Only Bristol has an even bigger elected Green Group, with 34.
In November 2024, after the sudden resignation of the Labour leader of the Council and Labour’s decision to go into opposition, Cllr Caroline Jackson was elected Leader of the Council. This makes Lancaster one of only 12 councils across England with a Green leader. A cabinet was formed of 9 members: 6 Green, 2 Liberal Democrat & 1 Morecambe Bay Independent). Greens hold the portfolios of Housing, Finance and Property, Regeneration & Local Economy (Lancaster), Climate, Planning, and Corporate Services.
For 2024/25, Cllr Abi Mills was the Mayor and her son Cllr Hamish Mills was the Deputy Mayor.
In the 2025 local elections, at the County council, Gina Dowding was re-elected in Lancaster Central, and joined by newly elected Paul Stubbins in Lancaster East and Hamish Mills in Lancaster South East. Along with Cllr Sohail Asghar for Accrington West & Oswaldtwistle Central they formed a Green Group of 4 , doubling the number of County seats we previously held. This Green Group of 4 then joined Independent Councillors in a new opposition group called ‘Progressive Lancashire’
We also retained our seat in the John O’Gaunt by-election, with 18 year old Wilson Colley becoming the youngest Councillor, ensuring that Greens remain the largest group on Lancaster City Council.
News
Find out what we’ve been up to, about issues in your area, and see the work we’ve done in the past.
- Greens and Independents Form “Progressive Lancashire” Group at Lancashire County Council
- Local Elections 2025 – 4 Greens Elected!
- Our Manifesto for Lancashire County Council – Vote Green on May 1st!
- Greens push hard for new council and affordable housing on the Skerton School Site
- County Council elections: Zack Polanski Visits Lancashire as Green Party stands full slate of 84 candidates