BIG wins for the Greens, Lib Dems and independent candidates saw the Conservatives lose half of their county council seats in Malvern Hills.

The Conservatives lost three of the six Malvern Hills seats it had held on Worcestershire County Council on Friday (May 7) with the Green Party winning in Croome, the Liberal Democrats winning in Malvern Chase and independent candidate Beverley Nielsen winning in Malvern Langland.

The results of the day saw the Greens' Martin Allen defeat Tory Paul Middlebrough in Croome and Lib Dem Jack Satterthwaite win in Malvern Chase at the expense of Tory cabinet member Lucy Hodgson.

Following his win in Malvern Chase, Lib Dem Jack Satterthwaite said: "I’m delighted to have the support of the community in Poolbrook, Barnards Green, Malvern Wells and Upper Welland to represent them as their county councillor.”

“Residents wanted a councillor who would be active in the community. I can’t wait to get started.”

"I want to get to work right away tackling climate change while demanding better transport, education and health. I will work hard over the next four years to hold the Conservative run county council to account."

The impressive win saw the Greens vastly improve on its performance in Croome in 2017 where the party finished in last place with just 146 votes.

Martin Allen becomes the Green Party's third councillor on the county council after Natalie McVey also won in Malvern Trinity to take over from John Raine and Matt Jenkins was re-elected again in Worcester's St Stephen division.

Tom Wells was re-elected again in Powick as an independent candidate after resigning from the Liberal Democrats last year.

Former Lib Dem Beverley Nielsen, who resigned from the party as Malvern Hills councillor alongside Tom Wells in July last year, won in Malvern Langland as an Independent defeating Tory James O'Donnell.

With more than 70 per cent of the vote, Tom Wells finished 1,751 votes ahead of the second placed Conservatives and received the most votes for an individual candidate across all of the council's 57 seats.

The Tories kept hold of the three seats in Malvern Hills that were not being defended by sitting councillors.

Scott Richardson-Brown was elected in Hallow, Karen Hanks was elected in Malvern Link, and David Chambers, who served as leader of Malvern Hills District Council between 2017 and 2019 and is the current chairman of West Worcestershire Conservatives, was comfortably elected in Tenbury. Cabinet member Ken Pollock, who was first elected to represent Tenbury in 2009, did not stand for re-election.