THE issue of Thurrock Council's two wholly-owned companies dealing with regeneration will be raised again at this week's meeting of the full council.

Since August Thurrock Regeneration Limited (TRL) and its sister company Thurrock Regeneration Homes Ltd have been without directors after three officers quit their roles on the board.

There have been several attempts to find out what is happening to the companies - not least by Thurrock Nub News which has asked several questions, not the least being to ask if the council is operating the company illegally as it is company law that companies should have at least one responsible director.

The council have blanked our questions. The council has a long history of blanking media questions about TRL as this report from 2019 highlights.

After being quizzed, regeneration portfolio holder Cllr Mark Coxshall touched on the subject at the last full council meeting in October - but didn't really give any detail about what is happening to the companies - which are legacies of the former Gloriana company set up in 2015 by the previous Labour administration to stimulate housebuilding in the borough by taking a lead in developing difficult sites.

The one major project undertaken was the building on land that was formerly St Chad's School in Tilbury, but little other than that appears to have accomplished.

The current Conservative administration renamed the company and launched a second one but appears now to be in limbo about what to do with them.

At this coming Wednesday's (26 November) meeting Labour's Cllr Martin Kerin will again quiz Cllr Coxshall, asking: "Can the portfolio holder please inform this chamber as to when new directors will be appointed to Thurrock Regeneration Limited?"

At the last full meeting Cllr Kerin had seized on the fact that any mention of the companies was committed from Cllr Coxshall's report so he asked Cllr Coxshall to inform the council what was happening.

Cllr Kerin said: "As TRL appears to have been omitted from the report can the portfolio holder inform us of what is happening?"

Cllr Coxshall responded: "Post Covid has changed everything. What we need to do is look at how we deliver our housing strategy. There has got to be a review of where we are going. Thurrock Regeneration Ltd was designed to deliver housing at a pace to make sure we get good quality, low cost housing.

"At the moment there is a review and we will bring a paper back to General Services Committee in a very short period, hopefully at the next General Services meeting (or the one after that) we can have the results of what we are going to do.

"But we need to review and make sure we have a fit and proper process and the vehicle to deliver low cost housing, which is our priority. Is Thurrock Regeneration Ltd the right vehicle to move us forward, we don't know that?"

The issues came up again at last week's meeting of the council's housing overview and scrutiny committee when Director of Place Andy Millard was quizzed by Labour's Cllr Lynn Worrall who asked why directors had resigned but again little information was forthcoming as he stumbled through his answers.

Stating that the officers has been in place for several years with no problems, Cllr Worrall asked: "What's suddenly made every want to resign from that board when we are told it is still viable and will still be trading? It doesn't make sense."

Mr Millard said the concern of the officers was that they were 'wearing two hats', being council officers and being directors.

"I don't think there is any indication in their resignation that they didn't mean Thurrock Regeneration Limited as an entity wasn't a viable proposition in some way, shape or form.

"We are looking at what a rejuvenated TRL can contribute as part and parcel of our mix. I don't think there was anything in their resignations which suggested TRL wasn't a doable proposition, they just personally felt the way they did."

That is in contrast to what Thurrock Nub News was told when we first reported on the directors' resignation in October when informed sources in the council told us the directors, Michael Jones, Carol Hinvest and Anna Eastgate had been ordered to resign.

Cllr Worrall asked what the financial situation was regarding the companies and said: "If I was to pull down the companies' accounts, is everything fine there?"

Mr Millard responded by saying: "I am not aware of any issues with the company accounts."

It remains to be seen if more information will be forthcoming for the third time of asking on Wednesday.