LOUIS Stephen has what he calls "a vision" for the Green Party in Worcester - to become the official opposition to the city's Conservatives.

And that's surely the ambitious target he should be setting given the racket they've been causing in the city for several years now.

The 48-year-old former King's pupil is having his second stab at Worcester's parliamentary constituency, yet things could hardly be any different now from the days of 2010.

Five years ago the Greens had no members on Worcester City Council, equally nothing at Worcestershire County Council, and a low activist footprint.

Fast forward on and they've since won three seats - two of them at County Hall - and established such a support base that in 2013, the Greens became the official opposition in true blue Battenhall, where the party fell 112 votes short of taking it from the Conservatives.

The Greens are now hoping that transfers itself into a solid General Election performance - and if that doesn't happen it won't be for the want of trying.

"Everything is so different to what it was, we've got 57,000 members across the country and in Worcester it's quadrupled in a year," says Mr Stephen, who lives in Bath Road.

"We've got many more activists, really good regional support and we're getting better at what we do."

It's also been a long personal journey for Mr Stephen, a Devon-born engineer by trade, who traces his interest in politics back to when he was 16.

In the early 1980s, at a time when cruise missiles were gaining currency and people were increasingly being imprisoned due to their political beliefs, he joined Amnesty International.

Growing up, he says there were "no politics in the family at all" which allowed him to form his own views, free of any influence, where he gained a passionate interest in civil liberties and freedom of expression.

Energised and enthused by the Green Party's slow but consistent momentum into the mainstream of British politics Mr Stephen, by now a father-of-two with plenty of life experience behind him, joined the Greens in 2008.

Over the years he's now become the dominant figure in Worcester's Green Party scene, securing the General Election candidacy in 2010, making his house the official branch office and coordinating the campaigning.

And if it's any measure on the strides made, five years ago he finished sixth with just 735 votes across all of Worcester - yet last year managed 751 from Battenhall householders alone in the city council election contest.

Most of that improvement is built around what he calls "all year round" canvassing, so by the time any elections come around it might be the third time that potential voter has spoken to a Green party member.

Mr Stephen, a graduate of Loughborough University, started off his career as an engineer, at one point making model railway trains.

He landed what he calls a "good break" at Worcester Bosch in 1999, working in its purchasing department on boiler components, eventually rising to a senior managerial role.

He left the company in February to dedicate himself to this campaign and is hoping to seriously raise the bar for the Green Party.

"At this stage, just before a General Election you'd expect the smaller parties to get squeezed but we're still doing reasonably well," he said.

He says he's "learnt lessons" from the 2010 experience, where he was tied down with a demanding, full-time job and had far less experience of public speaking.

"The aim is to do far better than last time," he said.

"There are a lot of people who are fed up with the two main parties and are searching for an alternative."

He also says he has no intentions of trying to become a Green MP elsewhere in the country once this contest is over, with his stated aim to "improve the standing of the party in Worcester" and give Labour and the Conservatives a run for their money.

He is not one for labels, cringing when I suggest 'left wing' as a description and saying civil liberties, freedom of expression, conservation and "environment and social justice" are his real interests.

He's clear about what Worcester needs from their MP, with a detailed list of aims and objectives.

"Lots of people are worried about congestion, it has a massive effect on many things, not only when you can't get from one side of the city to the other but the air quality - you've only got to look at Lowesmoor where it breaches European standards," he says.

"There really is a big problem to solve through planning - if you build out-of-town shopping centres people drive to them, and if you don't create enough good jobs in Worcester, people drive out of it for work.

"Bus cuts mean many people in their 80s and 90s can't get out, if they are short sighted and can't drive they can become prisoners in their homes - yet this is a city.

"It's these sorts of issues we need to look at."

He says cheaper bus and train fares and less spending on roads should be the way forward, as well as re-nationalising the railways and focusing on , quicker, greater reductions in CO2 emissions by insulating homes better.

And it's the doorstep reaction which is giving him most hope.

"Genuinely, a lot of people say they're fed up with politics and aren't sure how to vote," he said.

"We believe in this."