THURROCK came within 48 hours of having a by-election in the past week but a return to the council chamber by Labour member Sara Muldowney thwarted hopes of local Reform campaigners who were confident they would have triumphed had she vacated her ward.

Cllr Muldowney, who represents Chadwell St Mary and was elected for her first term of office in 2019 and re-elected in 2022, rose within the Labour group ranks and served on its shadow cabinet.

On her party's ascension to power in the 2024 election, under the leadership of Cllr John Kent she was given the role of Cabinet member for Resources.

But when he stood down in May this year and was replaced by Cllr Lynn Worrall, the new leader reshuffled the top team and Cllr Muldowney was missing when her choices were announced. Cllr Muldowney's last appearance at a council meeting was the inaugural Labour Cabinet on Wednesday, 7 May.

After the new cabinet was announced, Cllr Muldowney appeared to drop off the political stage, though she remained a ward member.

Under the council's constitution, members have to attend at least one meeting every six months to remain a councillor. A statement from Thurrock Council this week confirmed: "Under section 85 of the Local Government Act 1972, a councillor will cease to hold office if they fail to attend a meeting of the council within a period of six months since their last attendance."

Council watchers, and particularly members of Reform who were hopeful of repeating recent election successes and taking her ward if a by-election were called, waited with great interest to see if she would take either of her two remaining chances, Wednesday's (22 October) full council meeting, or Thursday's Adult Health Overview and Scrutiny committee.

In the end, she attended both - and was particularly vigorous, with probing questions at the O&S meeting.

As October is also halfway through the civic year, Nub News has looked at the attendance records and estimated remuneration for all 49 councillors. It should be noted that, under the current Labour administration, the number of council meetings, and their frequency, has been cut - reducing the number of opportunities for members to attend public meetings.

The annual basic allowance for a councillor, which is taxable, is £9,595. Additional special responsibility allowances range from being council leader - £33,583 a year - to down to £960 for being chair of standards. There is no direct correlation between the number of meetings some posts require and the allowance level. The value of the allowance is based on the responsibility of the post.

There are a significant number of briefing meetings and working groups that members attend without payment, but they are not compulsory.

So the workload and commitment across the cohort of 49 councillors varies significantly.

The councillor who attended most meetings was Labour's Aveley & Uplands representative Srikanth Panjala, who was present at 17 full council or committee meetings

One ward that appears well-served by a cross party group of three councillors is Stanford East and Corringham Town. Its three councillors, Alex Anderson (Reform), John Cecil (Labour) and Roy Jones (Non Political Alliance of Independent Councillors - NPAIC) all boast 100 per attendance at meetings they were expected to attend, either as 'ordinary councillors' or holders of special responsibility, ie chair or vice chair.

Eight out of 26 Labour councillors have a 100 per cent expected attendance record.

Our table below shows the number of 'official meetings' attended by members - and also an estimation of the allowances they have received during the first six months of the civic year. It does not include Thursday night's O&S meeting, which featured members Cllrs Rigby, Day, Fish, Muldowny, Chukwu, Manwa, Speight and Benson. Cllr Morris-Cook was also present as a relevant portfolio-holder but that does not count as a designated meeting.

Further details of all 49 councillors can be found via this link.