Hang on to your hats, folks, this looks set to be a humdinger of a local election.

In the red corner we have Labour leader Tim Young who appears to have kicked things off by outing himself as a Tory.

I’m following Mr Young’s own logic.

He thinks the Campaign Against Urban Sprawl in Essex is a "Tory front organisation", because (in Colchester, specifically) the Tories have committed to getting a grip on the Local Plan and killing the threat to our communities that is West Tey.

No wonder Cause supports that – it is what the group was created to do.

The thing is, Cause does not support Conservatives in Braintree or Tendring, because they are, along with Mr Young, proponents of the abominable garden communities.

In fact, flashback to his letter last June, the only thing beyond "ambition" the Planning Inspector could find to praise in these councils was their ability to cosy up together.

Despite the Inspector’s oh-too-subtle instruction to the contrary, Labour’s manifesto, in the style of Mr Young’s Braintree and Tendring Tory chums, says they’re just going to keep plugging away with the same old nonsense.

Meanwhile, in the yellow corner, the Lib Dems have wimped out altogether.

They lost their garden communities champion, Paul Smith, in last year’s election and consequently seem to have gone a bit quiet on the subject.

So quiet, in fact, that their manifesto doesn’t mention garden communities, or the reality they’ve been supporting and funding them all along.

Perhaps they’re hoping we won’t notice.

Other topics are, presumably, covered in all local manifestos.

However, there’s only one subject so huge and expensive it threatens to ruin the north Essex countryside and taxpayers for generations to come, and only one party in Colchester that’s been consistently challenging that.

Helen Hogan

Copford