Wards To Watch – Rochford

No political party rules forever. All parties have bad times. If they are lucky and work hard, sometimes they have good periods.

Back in the 1980s the Conservatives had around 30 seats on the District Council, then in the 1990s slumped to having only two and then rose to over 30 again…..

The Liberals had only a few seats at the start of the 1980s, soared to over 20 in the 1990s under the new name of Lib Dems, then crashed down to only 4. We are still on 4 now….

Labour had only 2 seats in 1984, then rose to 12 in the 1990s and then crashed to only 4 like the Lib Dems. And then slumped even further to zero.

Labour’s last seat on the District Council was held in Rochford Ward, until the much-loved Maureen Vince was defeated by a young and enthusiastic Conservative , James Cottis.

Now Labour are showing signs of life again. They have the organisation to stand in every seat this time, even if they can’t fight most of them seriously. The question is : can they actually win anything on the District? Their best chance must surely be in Rochford once again, where a young and enthusiastic Labour candidate, Rob Brown , is standing against a senior Conservative, Gill Lucas-Gill. Elsewhere, Labour’s chances seem slim, except possibly in Ashingdon and Canewdon.

Rochford is a straight Red v Blue contest, there are only two candidates. Rob Brown’s main disadvantage is that he doesn’t live in Rochford, though if you work hard for an area residents tend to overlook that. On the plus side for him, voters tend to like young, enthusiastic candidates, and Rochford is Labour’s strongest area in the district.

The result last year was:

Keith Gordon (Conservative) 861
Rob Brown (Labour) 588
Paul Scott (Green) 357
Richard Amner (Independent) 187

Most (but not all) of the Green votes will go to Labour this time. But where will Richard Amner’s votes go?

Expect massive efforts from the two party machines on the day. The Conservatives’ impressive organisation will be stretched by having to defend in about 13 wards at the same time. Labour’s organisation in the past has not been so good. If Labour have any sense , they will throw everybody they’ve got into Rochford in the last few days of the campaign.