THE Greens have won their first seat on Hampshire County Council.

Malcolm Wallace snatched the Meon Valley division in a byelection caused by the resignation of Conservative Hugh Lumby.

The first three candidates are all Winchester city councillors.

Mr Wallace, the first Green city councillor, secured 2,083 votes, 36 per cent of the vote. Second was Vivian Achwal, Lib Dem, only 177 votes behind on 1,906, or 33 per cent of the vote.

READ MORE: Conservatives suffer setback as coalition group keeps hold of council

The Conservative Neil Bolton was pushed down into third place with 1,630 votes, or 28 per cent.

Fourth was Oliver Hirsch for Labour with 199 votes.

The turnout was 40 per cent. The result was announced this evening.

Meon Valley in the past has been a solid Tory seat on the county council. But three of the city council seats for the Central Meon Valley are now held by the Greens. It would appear that disaffected Tory voters are switching not to the Lib Dems or Labour but to the Greens.