Keith Obbard says a huge thank you to all those who leafleted, canvassed and donated to his campaign, and voted for him on 4th June in the County Council elections. After polling 41.9%, he came very close to making history by winning the first ever Green seat in the County. Speaking outside of the East Sussex Golf Resort, Uckfield after the count Keith said: “For about an hour we had the Conservatives worried, as we all watched the ballot papers being counted. But in the end the Blues pipped us to the post.
Although we are obviously disappointed, we are not downhearted. The Forest Row County Division is more than double the geographical area, and double the number of electors compared to the Forest Row District Ward for which we won two seats in 2007 so we’ve made a huge impact with this campaign. Although we didn’t reach the summit, we saw the way to the top, and know that it is climbable!
Green MEPs were amongst the first to make expenses information publicly available, and last year took the decision to have their annual accounts fully audited. The auditor’s certificate is available via Caroline’s website:
On 3oth April, Green Party members standing for election in the County Council elections on June 4th met with Caroline Lucas, Green Party leader, before her presentation “Credit Crunch and Climate Crisis: The Way Forward” in Forest Row.
Caroline Lucas MEP, leader of The Green Party visited Forest Row on Thursday 30th April to launch the local Green candidates campaign for both the West Sussex and East Sussex County Elections, and to promote her own campaign for re-election to the European Parliament.
Credit Crunch and Climate Crisis: The Way Forward
A group of more than seventy Forest Row residents gathered at the northern entrance to the village on Friday (19th September) to launch a petition objecting to the Secretary of State, Hazel Blears’ recent proposal that neighbouring councils “will take the necessary steps to ensure that essential infrastructure is put in place” to support the East Grinstead development of 2500 houses and a relief road. 
On 17th July the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Hazel Blears, published 450 pages of recommended changes to the all-powerful South East Plan. Lurking in the midst of this weighty document was a potentially devastating paragraph specifically relating to Forest Row.
A heart felt thank you to all of you who worked so hard to make our campaign a success, and to all of you who came to vote for us - some of you going to extraordinary lengths to do so! 
On 12th April, Dr Caroline Lucas MEP came to Forest Row to launch the Forest Row Local Election Manifesto. 
Whether or not you think that Forest Row should have a bypass, overcoming the technical challenges would be so expensive that, just as for East Grinstead, the finance could only be raised from a substantial housing and infrastructure development in our village. This, together with other factors, would defeat the object of the exercise. 