THIS should be a comfortable Conservative hold but it is still an interesting ward.

In David Carter, the Tories have one of the hardest working ward councillors in the town.

David just gets on with it. If there is an issue that people feel the council haven’t dealt with properly such as the Amazon warehouse and the consequences for residents of the Byngham area, then he deals with it the best he can.

You just know that David is out and about in the ward every day.

As a ward councillor and as a loyal councillor, David sort of gets it.

The Conservatives won by 586 and 370 votes in 2021 and 2022 respectively. They may not hit those figures this year. In fact, this may be like Church Langley where their members may have an eye on their share of the vote. If it dips below 50%, then they may have to make sure these voters get out at next years General Election.

It will be interesting to see how Harlow Alliance Party leader Nicholas Taylor gets on. He hasn’t got over 300 in the last two years and really needs to this time. Nicholas may say that it was only the Harlow Alliance Party which was and has been consistently flagging the concerns over planning applications across the town.

The Greens may have something to say about that. Paul King is standing for the first time and it is good to see the Greens field a candidate in every ward. We wish him well.

If Labour are going to win over hearts and minds at next years General Election, then it is voters in this ward that they need to win over. It looks like they don’t have the appetite or resources yet. But they need to.

YH Predicts: Conservative Hold