THE Green Party has targeted Lancaster as one its top targets in the forthcoming general election.

This week the party selected local transport expert Prof John Whitelegg as their candidate and, with the second biggest number of green councillors in the country, they are confident about winning votes in Lancaster.

The seat, currently held by Labour's Hilton Dawson with a majority of just 1,500, is also a top Tory target and the city is set to become a crucial election battleground.

John, aged 51, has lived in Lancaster for 23 years, is married with four grown up children, and was one of the founders of the Freehold Community Association and the Gregson Centre in Lancaster.

He worked at Lancaster University for 18 years and now works part time at Liverpool John Moores University as well as running a successful transport consultancy business based in Lancaster. In December last year he was invited to 10 Downing St to discuss his ideas for solving the national transport crisis. He said: "The last 20 years have seen a steady decline in the quality of life of all of us who live in the Lancaster and Wyre constituency. We have a low wage service economy, traffic problems out of all proportion to the size of the City and a city centre that people are afraid to visit because of crime and loutish behaviour. On top of this we have rural areas experiencing the total collapse of farming and breadline incomes."

He added: "Under a Conservative government this constituency suffered severe neglect and this has continued under New Labour. This neglect will only end when Lancaster and Wyre voters realise that there are very attractive solutions to all these problems and solutions that can be put in place soon and at a low cost. It is my job to make sure that every single voter knows that there is an alternative."