Johnathan Cassell wins Coffs Harbour City Council seat for The Greens

Johnathan Cassell has been knocking on the door for a while - now it’s open, as The Greens return with a seat on the new Coffs Harbour City Council.

Jonathan Cassell believes the new Coffs Harbour City Council line-up will take a collaborative approach to decision making.

Persistence and “lots of hard work” has paid off for Jonathan Cassell - a Greens candidate who has won a spot on the new Coffs Harbour City Council.

A casual high school teacher and spear fisherman, Mr Cassell first put his name forward for council in 2016 - but at No.3 on the party’s ticket success was never likely.

Two years ago he put his hand up for The Greens at the state election. He was not successful, but it was another part of the learning curve.

The final breakthrough and election to office arrived this week when Mr Cassell was confirmed as one of eight councillors, plus new mayor Paul Amos.

Mr Cassell said it was noteworthy that three progressives - in himself, Labor’s Tony Judge and former Greens now independent councillor Sally Townley - had been elected.

He believed that spoke to “new voters” coming onboard.

Mr Cassell said he was passionate about coastal interests, including water quality and recreational fishing in particular.

Development at the foreshores in the Jetty precinct has already been outed as a headline matter for the next council, and Mr Cassell said whatever happened on the state government-owned land, it was vital it was “for the public good”.

With five new faces on the new Coffs council, he predicted it would take a collaborative decision making approach.

“I’m confident that this new council will represent the community,” Mr Cassell said.