A COUNCILLOR who has stood at every General Election in the area since 1992 will be the Green Party candidate in June's election.

James Abbott will be standing for the Witham constituency on June 8.

He has just been re-elected as county councillor for Witham North in the local elections on May 4.

Mr Abbott, 56, from Rivenhall, was first elected at Braintree Council in 1999 to represent Silver End and Rivenhall.

He has been a parish councillor since 1999.

He said: "I am grateful to Green Party members for again putting their trust in me to be a candidate for the Witham constituency.

"It is the area I grew up in and I am looking forward to the coming weeks of the campaign to put across the policies which I believe can both help local communities and protect our shared environment.

"I intend to concentrate on the local issues that matter to communities – which their MP can do something about.

"Having just spent several months campaigning in the local elections, including speaking to hundreds of residents, there are clearly many people concerned about issues such as the huge levels of development planned for the area not being matched by services and infrastructure.

"I will be standing at this election to support the things that people have told me they do want – such as a Community Hospital for Witham, more integrated local transport and maintaining our key public services - and against things such as the waste incinerator planned for Rivenhall Airfield and the unsustainable level of development planned by the Conservatives."

Mr Abbott will be standing against Priti Patel for the Conservatives and Phil Barlow for Labour.