A PLAN to increase the rent paid by council tenants has been slammed by members of Thurrock's housing committee which branded the idea "unjustifiable" - despite being told the council is short of millions it needs to spend on properties.

The council is proposing a rise of council rents along with service charges, which relate to estate maintenance, following the expiration of a 2015 government policy that called for the charges to be reduced by one per cent each year over four years.

The increase would mean families living in council properties will see their rent increase by 2.8 per cent – an average of around £3 per week or £156 per year.

It would then be reinvested into tenant requests such as building decoration and improvements to door entry systems.

Speaking during a Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting, Carol Hinvest, assistant director of Housing, said: "We are proposing an increase in rent and service charges next year. There has been a rent reduction for the past four years and that has led to the council having £18 million less to spend on its properties.

"It has also led to tenants paying on average, £10 less than they would have done if the rents had been going up by the Consumer Price Index plus one per cent, which is what you would expect.

"We should also be spending at least £15million a year on the maintenance of our existing housing stock but since the rent reduction was brought in, we are spending an average of £10million. This has been a direct consequence of us not having the money coming in."

She warned that if the council does not increase the rent they would lose out on an extra £1.5million a year. If that money be needed in the future, it will need to be taken from departments that deliver the council's core services.

Ms Hinvest said "nobody has done as many meetings as we have" and the public had been given the chance to give their view through a consultation.

She added there had not been "any real opposition" to the increase.

Committee chair Lynn Worrall criticised claims about the consultation pointing out that when residents were invited, they were not given any notice that it would relate to a 2.8 per cent increase in their rent.

She further claimed events had not taken place near to council estates and were also held during the day when many were in work.

The councillor went on to say there is "no clear evidence that these increases are justified" and called it "simply the administration's way of clawing as much money as it can from council tenants at a time when families are already struggling".

In light of the council's concerns, the committee voted in favour of freezing the charges but it will down to the authority's ruling Conservative cabinet to decide whether to follow the recommendation.