FIVE new councillors have been welcomed to Worcester – including the city’s first Green politician.

Councillor Neil Laurenson shocked all the city’s political parties by taking the St Stephen seat from the Conservatives with 720 votes.

The stunning result was one of the country’s biggest upsets, with the Tories’ Keith Burton kicked off the council after he polled only 442.

The 30-year-old Mr Laurenson, a married father-of-two, works full-time with children who have had difficulties in mainstream school and has been a party campaigner in Worcester for three years.

He said: “I’ve been working for years in the ward to knock on doors and get backing, and this is the culmination of all that.

“I feel delighted and privileged to be here, it’s a great feeling and the focus now is getting things done for people.”

Other new faces on the authority include Labour councillors Richard Boorn and Chris Cawthorne, who took seats in Nunnery and St John’s respectively. Coun Boorn, 52, is managing director of Bondtech – a business which produces adhesives.

The father-of-four said: “My determination now is to make sure I represent the people in my ward and once all the europhoria has died down, work as hard as I can for them.”

Coun Cawthorne, who polled 933 votes, a majority of 500, said: “This is the result we wanted and I want to say thanks to every single person who got out to vote for me – I feel thrilled.”

Elsewhere, Mike Whitehouse became the Conservatives’ only new face after he won the Claines seat in an incredibly close contest.

He polled 1,182 votes compared to 1,117 from Sue Askin, who was the leader of Worcester’s Liberal Democrats. Coun Whitehouse, a married father-of-two, who works in IT, is also a parent governor at Bishop Perowne School. He said: “The people of Claines had a vision that they wanted a Conservative councillor to represent them.

“I would like to thank everyone who got me into this position.”

The other new face on the authority is Coun Lynn Denham, who took Cathedral from the Conservatives after receiving 1,057 votes.

The 57-year-old mother-of-three is married to current Labour Party deputy leader and Rainbow Hill councillor Paul Denham.

She used to work for the NHS and PCT in Worcestershire as a senior manager, and said her inspiration for standing was the “damage” the Tories were doing to the health service.

“I am thrilled and humbled,” she said. “The Government is destroying the NHS bit by bit and we cannot let it happen.”