After 16 years in local government, Herefordshire's only Green councillor lost his seat in May. Guy Woodford was the second longest-serving Green councillor in the country and, with his shock of grey hair and trademark Morris Traveller, was a well-known figure about council offices and county lanes.

Jonathan Russell went to his home in Acton Beauchamp to find out where the defeat leaves the man and his party.

IF the Green Party in Herefordshire was growing as rampantly as Guy Woodford's garden I would probably be sitting with the leader of the council.

But while the plants around Mr Woodford's Acton Beauchamp home have grown unchecked, support for the Green Party has wilted to the stage where the group now has no voice on the council.

Defeat

Sixteen years of political representation ended on May 1 when Guy Woodford lost Frome Ward by 25 votes to Conservative farmer Robert Manning.

The result leaves both Herefordshire Green Party and 67-year-old Guy reassessing their futures.

Guy said: "It is a set-back, very disappointing. I was only one person but once on the council you can work on other councillors and have a voice."

Last time around, Guy joined the Independent group to strengthen his hand in dealing with political transparency, planning, waste management and travellers policy, some of his main areas of concern.

Though no longer a political force on the council, Guy is still hoping to see some of his work come to fruition. A motion to allow public speaking at Cabinet meetings and a recommendation to appoint a travellers liaison officer both have to be considered by the council.

Guy represented Frome Ward on Malvern Hills District Council for 10 years before switching to Herefordshire Unitary Authority when the new council was formed in 1997.

A seasoned political campaigner, he promises to continue supporting Green Party policies on a whole range of issues confronting the county.

From the Rotherwas industrial access road, which he has always opposed, to improved rights for travellers, which he supports, and a total rethink on the county's waste management system, the council is sure to hear more from him.

He said: "Waste management is a mess. Nobody really knows what we are dealing with, even councillors, because the contract is secret.

"The mess with the incinerator in Kidderminster shows the situation we are getting into."

Guy puts his loss down to various factors including boundary changes in Frome ward and a campaign that he conducted on his own, turning down help in order to speak to people himself; a personal touch that generated a lot of good feeling in his constituency.

He said: "I have been bowled over by the number of people who have phoned and written to me thanking me for the work I have done.

"It was totally unexpected."

Power

The task now facing the Green Party is to translate minority status into some form of political power.

Like a lot of smaller political parties, they are campaigning for proportional representation in the long term and trying to convince people that a Green vote is not a wasted vote in the short term.

Last time out this did not work. Herefordshire, arguably the most rural county in England, turned down all 12 Green candidates in May's elections.

This has freed up more time for Guy to spend on his first profession, sculpting. Whether he will also take on a bit of gardening remains to be seen.