THE leader of Thurrock Council has shrugged off his usual reticence to speak openly to the media and public with a pledge that the authority will up its game after a night of total embarrassment as its full council meeting turned into farce and had to be abandoned.

The virtual meeting last night (Wednesday, 25 November), which included two lengthy adjournments, lasted just over an hour before an exasperated Mayor Cllr Terry Piccolo called it a day and brought the meeting to a close.

In the interim viewers online had witnessed councillors shouting at each other and ridiculing the authority, while former pop star David van Day led a protest song during one of the adjournments.

The full story of last night's debacle can be read here. but the recriminations have already started.

Council leader Ronb Gledhill contacted Thurrock Nub News last evening after the meeting and, breaking with his usual policy of not speaking to the media, he made a forthright and quite damning assessment of what had happened.

Cllr Gledhill said: "I do not know where the problem with this evening sits. I think Cllr Kent said that it could be with members or with their connectivity- but equally I feel it could sit anywhere between the members IT equipment, broadband connectivity, the council It equipment or the system we use to broadcast to the web.

"This issue is not limited to the council, at a public meeting (SELEP) last week I had to excuse myself from voting as I lost connection on two items and could not say with all confidence that I had followed the whole debate.

"Other meetings have been similar, but equally many more of the meetings I attend virtually either 'at the council' or other with organisations go without hitch.

"I saw the issues yesterday where sound was lost for 20 minutes, member training was interrupted the same night, other meetings that I am not a member of have experienced problems so clearly this needs to be resolved.

"You can probably appreciate now why we, as part of the Association of South Essex Local Authorities, have made successful bids for improvements to broadband connectivity across Thurrock and South Essex. This is not just to improve connectivity between public buildings but enable the industry to improve the service for every resident.

"However that aside we need to ensure that as a council we can ensure democracy is, and is seen to be, done. I have already received a number of complaints from members from all political groups and I am sure others will come in, as they may well do from residents who tried to watch the meeting.

"This does need addressing, I have had a request to form an urgent working group to see what can be done which I personally feel needs to happen without delay.

"I think we all understand the situation regarding meetings is completely different than ever before, we have different processes for voting and attendance in line with new covid legislation but this means very little if we cannot take part in the meetings online.

"With months of further restrictions ahead this needs resolving and resolving fast.

"We cannot have our reputation put at risk by not being able to hold a meeting where all councillors can contribute and vote throughout the meeting, that residents can follow and where the press cannot fully and accurately report what is discussed and decided."

Leader of the Labour group, Cllr John Kent has also reflected on last night's events, saying: "The events of this week have been an absolute embarrassment to Thurrock Council.

"They have had eight months to get this right and have failed. I raised concerns following September's council meeting when some members were unable to access the meeting at all - these concerns were utterly dismissed.

"Had they been taken seriously we may have avoided the debacle of last night.

"Aside from that, this may (or may not) be a bandwidth issue, I really don't know. What I do know is I have been on lots of virtual meetings held over Zoom without any connectivity problem at all - some of those events have had 100 or so participants.

"Finally, let's not forget that 5G will resolve all these issues in time!"

Cllr Gary Byrne, leader of the small group of independent councillors who was thrown out of the meeting for the nature of his comments to the Mayor – who he said 'should grow a pair', is also damning of what happens and says someone has to be held to account.

He told Thurrock Nub News: "This has embarrassed Thurrock. Out IT team, have let us down. In my world of manufacturing these guys would never return, the difference in performance between those paid from the taxpayers purse and those paid on profit per pound of labour are oceans apart.

"Our IT team and the people who were responsible for last night going ahead when it was clearly not going to work team should donate their unearned salary to charity to make amends."

Independent councillor Fraser Massey, who sits on the council's general services committee added that the embarrassment could have been avoided and the problems were all foreseeable. He added: "I said back in the first lockdown I doubt we could do a full council 100% remotely, seems that is sadly still true."