THE leader of Thurrock Council has been telling fellow members why he is spearheading a link with Basildon Council, which could in time lead to a union of services.

Despite being the chair of the wider campaigning group of local councils, the Association of South Essex Local Authorities (ASELA), which is seeking a south Essex wide union of authorities – possibly under the leadership of a directly elected mayor, Cllr Gledhill has also struck out on his own and reached out to Basildon's Labour leader Gavin Callaghan.

The duo have come up with a 'Memorandum of Understanding' between the two councils. Thurrock's Cabinet endorsed that last night (Wednesday, 10 March) and Basildon councillors are due to debate it this evening.

Cllr Gledhill had briefed members of his council's corporate overview and scrutiny 24 hours earlier when he said: "The government is looking at the dissolution of powers down to local areas. Local government reform is likely to happen in the coming year, if not the year after and Thurrock needs to be prepared for this.

"As you know Thurrock has been a unitary local authority since 1998 which means it is responsible for all of its income and expenditure.

"Quite frankly in 1998 I thought it was an odd thing to do as a local government officer but now, it is clear it was the right thing to do.

"Should we look to expand, whether it be with Basildon or with Basildon and others or whether that be forced on us from a proposition from elsewhere we wouldn't want to go into this blind.

"So in discussions with the leader in Basildon we feel it's the right thing to do to explore what will be the benefits and what will be the pitfalls, if there are any, of becoming a larger unitary authority.

"Ignore the titles of Thurrock Council and Basildon Council, imagine it being a homogenous unitary authority irrespective of its name. We will just call it Basildon and Thurrock, for example.

"That would be just over doubling in size of resident capacity, there will be a significant number of new business rates opportunities"

Cllr Gledhill then went on to expound the benefits of such a union to Basildon, which currently pays a substantial sum into the Essex County Council pot for public services, including children and adults social services and does not necessarily get back the full return for its money - 'that is paid for by all the residents of Basildon.'

He continued: "Part of this memorandum of understanding is to look at all the aspects of becoming a larger, tier one unitary authority and what that would actually mean.

"We want to look at what the benefits are now. What we don't want to end up with is things that have been missed. This isn't a merger now, it about exploring the opportunities and what are the risks.

"I have had a good number of good meetings with the leader of Basildon, Gavin Callaghan. He is a Labour leader so there is nothing political. This is about making sure we are informed as we move forward."

He repeated many of the points in an address to last night's cabinet meeting, the second time Cllr Gledhill has briefed his cabinet colleagues on the link with Basildon and came in the wake of concern about the move expressed by his local labour opposition leader Cllr John Kent who wanted to ensure residents get a say in what happens.

Cllr Kent had talked about previous discussions with Basildon decades ago and why they failed but Cllr Gledhill dismissed his comments by saying: "Trying to compare now with what we did 20 years ago is a completely different kettle of fish."

Following the initial revelation that Thurrock and Basildon were already talking, any thoughts of other councils linking in with the initiative put forward by Cllrs Callaghan and Gledhill took a blow when the leader of Brentwood Council definitively rejected his authority's involvement.

And Cllr Gledhill is clearly not putting all his eggs in one basket as Thurrock Council has issued a statement saying its commitment to continuing its joint work across the whole of the South of Essex within the Association of South Essex Local Authorities (ASELA) is not diminished and the Council intends to take an active part in that work.

A draft of the Memorandum of Understanding with Basildon can be found via this link

Cllr Gledhill has concluded his briefings on the memorandum by saying: "It means that Thurrock can work to unlock enormous economic and social benefits through joint working with Basildon, and harness the power of local-level decision making to achieve the best possible outcomes for our residents and our businesses."