THE fourth and final candidate to be standing in West Worcestershire this year is the Green Party's Martin Allen.

Mr Allen, a district councillor for Hanley and Upton and a Navy veteran, said he joined the Green Party with future generations in mind.

He said: "I left school at 16 and joined the Navy and spent the best part of 10 years on Submarines.

"In 1982 I had the honour of serving on HMS Valiant during the Falklands War.

"We spent the best part of 100 days down there having bombs dropped on us."

At the end of 1989, his contract came to an end and he left the Navy, going into the fire and alarm industry, starting his own business in 1995.

Mr Allen became interested in the Green party around 2015, when he was diagnosed with stage three cancer.

He said: "I wasn't expected to make it, but I got very lucky having had pretty horrendous chemo.

"I was horrified by what I saw in the hospital, not because of the staff, they were wonderful, it was the state of the wards and how one person would leave the bed and another one came in almost straight away."

This, he says, was the reason he turned to politics, adding: "Being in hospital gave me lots of time to realise what is important and what isn't.

"Around two years ago I joined the party, not because I agreed with everything they said, but because I agreed with enough so I started leafleting and door-knocking."

As the Green Party's candidate, the environment is, predictably, one of his key focuses.

He said: "If you tell people (about environmental issues) they don't want to hear, but that shouldn't stop you wanting to tell them.

"The Labour Party has rowed back on climate. Their climate committee won't work because you need time and we're running out of time."

One of the key issues for West Worcestershire is travel, with bus services being cut and towns like Upton left without regular services.

Mr Allen is in favour of running bus services on a not for profit basis, saying communities such as Upton need them.

He said: "Companies should be not for profit with the money going back in and reinvested in improving the services.

"That being said, if people don't use the bus services we can't keep them going. So it really is a case of use it or lose it."

In the 2017 election, the Green Party came in fourth place, with candidate Natalie McVey winning 1,605 votes.