Paul Dundas: A leftwing coalition is failing Colchester

Cllr Paul Dundas is the Leader of the Conservative Group on Colchester City Council.

Colchester City Council which, until a couple of years ago was known as Colchester Borough Council is one of the largest district level councils in the country with nearly 200,000 residents (larger than at least 20 unitaries). It is England’s newest city and, as many locals will tell you, also its oldest. Its urban core (with around 100,000 residents) is where the Romans pitched their capital before that upstart London down the A12 usurped it (although it must be said Boudica burning Colchester down probably didn’t help). The more rural hinterland contains several smaller settlements including Mersea (famous for its Colchester Oysters), Tiptree and its famous and world-wide exported jam and the “Constable Country” village of Dedham.

To the outsider, it looks like the kind of place which must be run by the Tories and, indeed, many residents with just a passing interest in local politics assume it is. However, for just about as long as anyone can remember the Council has usually been run by a coalition of the “ABC” (anyone but Conservative) variety despite us often topping the poll both in terms of vote share and number of councillors.

After a brief year of Conservative control (in coalition with independents) in 2021-2022, in the difficult May 2022 elections, we lost four seats (including my own) and normal service of a LibDem/Labour Council with a bit of occasional help from the Greens was resumed and it’s been that way since. In the 2022 elections we went down to 19 Councillors (out of 51) but in the 2023 elections, we retained all the seats we defended, and we did the same in 2024 (one of the very few Conservative Groups to do so).

No elections were due in 2025 but as we approach 2026, we face a number of significant challenges.

The first one, a challenge we share with many, is Local Government Reorganisation. Essex is on the “Devo/LGR Fasttrack” which means we expect all district councils in Essex (and the County Council) to be replaced with between three and five unitaries in 2028. I’m not going to dwell on the plus and minus points of LGR but it means there is great uncertainty over whether elections in 2026 will take place at all.

As a Group Leader, it is challenging to motivate your Councillors to gear up for an election they know might be cancelled and, even if it isn’t and they are successful, would see them elected to a Council facing abolition shortly afterwards. It tends to go unsaid, but the reality is many in my group know if they wish to continue in their council careers they may not get selected for one of the new unitary seats and even then, they face difficult re-election challenges. To their credit, I have seen no reduction in commitment and effort from any of my group, but it would be negligent by me as leader if I was not aware of the looming cliff edge and the corrosive effect on morale.

The second challenge of course is that we are in Essex, and the neighbouring MP is a certain Mr Nigel Farage. Thus far Reform’s efforts locally have been a bit haphazard, but it would be incredibly naïve to think it will stay that way. We can expect a major challenge in all seats in 2026 if the election happens and, even if it doesn’t, major challenges in unitary elections in 2027.

We had a by-election in early 2025 which Reform thew everything at (and, I think, they hubristically expected to win) but we came out with an increased majority so we know we can take them on and win but we also know how difficult it will be.

Whatever happens we will have an election for the first Essex Mayor in 2026. I’m pleased to say as a party we have got on the front foot by selecting our candidate early. Louise McKinlay is an excellent candidate and has already thrown herself very enthusiastically into the campaign. It won’t be easy though as Reform clearly consider Essex “ground zero” and will be gunning hard.

Locally in Colchester though what can we do to keep ourselves going and motivated whatever happens? Well, firstly, Conservative Councillors tend to be professionally minded people who realise it is a job to be done for the period elected and they’ll keep doing it to the best of the ability no matter what. Secondly there is witnessing the awful mess the current administration is making of our city. From the various disastrous commercial projects – including a £70 million leisure park the council’s own finance department have valued as worthless, a Housing Revenue Account which is heading for bankruptcy, a capital programme running five years behind and the complete lack of focus on trying to achieve anything before the shutters come down. If sitting for ten minutes listening to the Cabinet discuss their collapsing budget doesn’t motivate you nothing will.

The next few years won’t be easy, but we have beaten the odds before and will do our absolute to do so again. We owe it to the whole Colchester City Council area. If the worst happens, and we lose, we’ll do what we have always done in the past. Pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down and get on with winning it all back.

What we can rely on though is that whatever happens, Colchester and North Essex politics is never boring.