AS Thurrock Council continues its slow crawl towards publishing a new and long-awaited Local Plan residents are being asked to partake in yet another consultation – and they have been tasked with finding the 'Beauty in My Back Yard'.

For more than five years the borough has been without the vitally important planning document that is a set Local Plan. It provides the framework for development across a region and is a 'go-to' document for developers and investors.

Without one, the borough lacks a roadmap to its future and there has been scathing criticism from some councillors – and not infrequent comment from planners looking to invest in the borough – because the council has taken so long over creating one.

More than two years ago the council initiated a public consultation asking residents how they think Thurrock should look, grow and develop.

A series of public meetings and seminars invited residents across Thurrock to engage with the idea of a new local plan – mooted first in 2016.

The council's regeneration portfolio holder, Cllr Mark Coxshall, fronted up the initiative and in December 2018 said: "We are asking residents their views of the real choices we have at this stage in the formation of the local plan.

"We're not setting out any preferred sites for development, but instead asking for views on the types of locations local communities would want to see development take place on. This builds on the results from the 2016 Issues and Options consultation while taking into account community priorities, including those residents told the council about at the 'Your Place, Your Voice' events earlier this year.

"The results of this consultation will form the basis of future consultation on the next stage of the Local Plan.

"As the plan is progressed, it will ensure that development has a positive effect on residents' health, well-being and employment opportunities as well as helping us to ensure that Thurrock communities and town centres thrive and grow with the infrastructure they need and that new housing, affordable to Thurrock residents, is provided. Getting views of residents and businesses over the coming weeks and months is a vital part of this important process."

Two years on and it seems the answers that consultation gleaned from the Thurrock public were not enough and now a new consultation, with a catchy acronym to front it up, has been launched.

BIMBY stands for 'Beauty in my Back Yard'. The council describes it as a toolkit designed and delivered by the Prince's Foundation which enables communities, organisations and local authorities to develop a manual which sets out development principles for a local area.

And with echoes of what he said two years ago, Cllr Coxshall today (Wednesday, 9 December) once more stepped in the spotlight to say: "We need to residents to tell us where community and workspaces, schools, parks, roads, play areas, homes for our children should be built, and what they should look like. That way we can ensure we build the right homes in the right places with the right infrastructure to meet the needs of us all, now and in the future."

The repetitive rhetoric also comes from the council itself, which in its announcement of BIMBY said: "The consultation will be used to collate the views of residents and businesses on how land use development will take place in the borough to support the future needs of Thurrock. This is the next step in the process following the recent 'Your Place, Your Voice' events and is designed to help create bespoke blueprints, shaped by the community, for the new Thurrock Plan."

The council has announce d the first part of the process is a survey, which will run until 31 January 2021. Feedback can be provided at thurrockyourplaceyourvoice.co.uk and will be followed by events in starting in the new year and running throughout 2021, the format of which will be dependent on government restrictions in place due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Cllr Coxshall adds: "With £20 billion of planned investment in new jobs, homes and infrastructure, there is no limit to our ambition and determination to make Thurrock a great place to live, work and play."

For more information and to provide feedback, click here.

Councillors have been briefed on the latest thoughts of the council about the new developments in the saga of the local plan - which also include the creation of 'Landowner Charrettes', mostly in the east of the borough.

A charrette is a public meeting or workshop devoted to a concerted effort to solve a problem or plan the design of something. In Thurock that means a series of meetings looking at development sites in Stanford-le-Hope, Orsett, Horndon on the Hill, East Tilbury, Corringham, Chadwell St Mary, Bulphan and South Ockendon.

Thurrock Nub News has asked the council how much the BIMBY programme will cost and how much has been spent to date on Your Place, Your Voice and the 'Local Plan Issues and Options' consultation' to date? If we are enlightened we will share the information on this site.