ALMOST two years after damning Thurrock Council Conservatives' plans for the demolition of part of its main building to create a development opportunity which would fund its new and highly controversial civic office extension, a borough councillor has tonight announced a scheme for the site that will see the council build 86 council flats there.

Cllr Luke Spillman says he has come forward with an innovative new plan, telling Thurrock Nub News that 'the previous plan isn't good enough for Thurrock so I trashed it."

Rather than generating cash from the public sector, the council plans, it appears from Cllr Spillman's oratory, to borrow a figure that could rise to tens of millions for the new arrangement (which includes underwriting the cost of the controversial civic offices extension) – and pay it back from the rent the flats generate.

Cllr Spillman says that instead of private homes being on the site that might cost occupants '£1,100+ a month' the community will benefit by having 86 new homes for local people to live in at affordable rents. "What's not to like about that', he says.

At tonight's meeting (Thursday, 14 October) of the council's housing overview and scrutiny meeting, which has happened without the publication of any agenda papers or copies of reports that councillors were asked to consider, Cllr Spillman (who was first elected to the council representing UKIP in 2016 and then became a founder member and eventual leader of the Thurrock Independents Group before crossing the floor of the council chamber to join the Tories) delivered a verbal report announcing his new scheme.

Moments after the meeting Thurrock Conservative issued the following release: "Tonight, 14 October 2021, at the Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Cabinet member for Housing, Cllr Luke Spillman announced plans to build 86 council homes on site of C01, the Eastern section of Thurrock's current Civic Offices. C01 will soon be scheduled for demolition.

Cllr Luke Spillman said "I am delighted to be able to announce to housing overview and scrutiny committee that a viable financial model has been built that will allow the Council to progress our plan to build social homes on the site of C01. These will be high specification council homes, built for Thurrock people."

"Thurrock Council's Conservative administration has great ambitions for the provision of new Council housing in Thurrock. The Leader of the Council and Cabinet have set me the challenge to deliver upon these ambitions. It is a privilege to be given the chance to lead on this project."

Thurrock Nub News has spoken to Cllr Spillman, who was elected as a Conservative in the Ockendon ward in May, tonight and it is clear that he is highly motivated and enthused by the scheme which he says is fully financially viable and he says is not a change of direction by the council.

And when asked to reconcile his comments about the project two years ago when, as leader of Thurrock Independents, he said: "This whole project has brought shame on Thurrock Council and the Tory administration. They continue to plough on relentlessly without any hard evidence of any future benefits to Thurrock" he rigorously defended his position, saying the new project was a significant change for the better and a 'hugely positive announcement for Thurrock'.

Tonight's verbal announcement by Cllr Spillman lacks detail and a complex set of financial arrangements are now likely to be tabled. It appears the numbers of homes planned for the site have dropped by around a third.

In December 2018 when there was great debate and controversy about the whole civic offices project, the Conservative portfolio holder for regeneration, Cllr Mark Coxshall, acknowledged that the cost of the scheme was high but said that the council wants to "build better than London".

He said: "We want homes better than London and we want offices and building that are more iconic built in Thurrock."

He added that the council also needs to deliver more homes and this will mean at least an additional 120 new homes which are "vital for the Grays regeneration project".

At the time the council announced the project would be financed primarily through the council's capital budget which already had funds earmarked for the refurbishment of the civic offices. The council added that about £2.4 million was expected to be gained from income from the flats. An additional £1.4million would need to be raised through other means.

The cost of the council extension, which will be completed in the new year, was said to be £10 million but no update on the ongoing project has been given and the full cost remains unknown at this point. Opponents of the scheme have speculated that £10 million was a significant understatement of what will be the true cost.