More than 150 residents turned out to hear what St Albans' five parliamentary candidates have to say about a sustainable future.

The Better World hustings, held at Trinity URC Church on Thursday evening, attracted a wide range of people of different ages, many of whom were first time voters.

The hustings panel included Conservative's Anne Main, Kerry Pollard for Labour, Sandy Walkington for the Liberal Democrats, Jack Easton for the Green Party and Chris Wright for UKIP.

More than 50 questions to the candidates were submitted to the organisers, covering a wide range of topics around the subject of the environment, justice and sustainability.

Amongst other issues the panellists were quizzed on their plans to clamp down on corporate taxpayers, their commitment to tackling climate change, policies to help those living in poverty both here and abroad, and what they propose to do to help young people in St Albans stay and thrive in the district.

The event was organised jointly by St Albans Friends of the Earth, Transition St Albans, St Albans Oxfam, Global Justice Now and Trinity URC.

Amanda Yorwerth from St Albans Friends of the Earth said: "We don’t always hear from our politicians at a national or local level about these important topics, so the Better World hustings was a great opportunity to put these questions to the candidates in a direct way.

"Just last week the Earth Alliance representing 17 different global organisations declared that the Paris climate talks taking place in December offer a ‘last chance’ to avert dangerous climate change.

"The hustings gave us a chance to question the candidates and ask for their help on these vital issues."