The Green Party takes its turn for the leadership of Wealden District Council

15th May

Rachel Millward, Green Party Councillor for Hartfield

Following on from last year’s defeat of the long standing Conservative majority control of Wealden Council, Rachel Millward, Green Party Councillor for Hartfield ward, takes over from Liberal Democrat James Partridge to be the first Green Party leader of Wealden District Council, Sussex. This is in line with the agreement made when they formed The Alliance for Wealden last year. The pair are set to alternate leadership annually through the four year Council term. 

Rachel joins Zoe Nicholson (Lewes) and Julia Hilton (Hastings) as the third Green council leader in Sussex. Rachel is the 12th Green council leader across England and Wales. There are now 809 Green Councillors, across 174 councils, with Greens part of the administration in over 40 local authorities.  

The Alliance for Wealden celebrates a first year of hard work and significant success, proving that cross-party collaboration can be both stable and effective. Within 6 months they had penned a new Council Strategy, with a clear vision of Wealden as a place where people and nature thrive together, and a mission to make Wealden greener, fairer and kinder for this and future generations. Within 10 months they had brought the draft Local Plan to public consultation under Regulation 18 – the District has not had a full up-to-date Local Plan for around 20 years. 

Cllr Millward says: I am honoured to lead Wealden District Council towards a fairer, greener, kinder future, and grateful to my Alliance colleagues for the opportunity. The teamwork that’s been so fruitful thus far will continue, and our three priorities remain the same: climate change and the environment; community resilience and wellbeing and the local economy. I am particularly excited to develop our next Climate Change Strategy, get better at listening to and engaging with our communities, and to find new ways to improve the well-being of our residents, both rural and urban, including the development of a cultural strategy for the first time.