Chelmsford is a major retail, administrative and manufacturing centre, with a pedestrianised high street linking two major shopping malls with traditional specialist shops and most of the major stores.
The headquarters of the district council and Essex County Council are here, along with those of the county police, Chelmsford diocese and the county courts.
The town could stake a valid claim on the title of birthplace of the electronics industry. Guglielmo Marconi established the first radio factory in the world in Hall Street in 1899 and GEC-Marconi continues to be a major employer in the town today.
Other companies here include Britvic Soft Drinks, Cundell Corrugated, Royal Insurance, Cable and Wireless Marine, Jardines.
Much of the constituency is extraneous rural territory, much of which was brought in with the boundary changes.