THURROCK councillors have been given an update on how the authority is faring in its bid to claw back hundreds of millions lost through its catastrophic 'borrow to invest' policies.

However, there isn't total clarity in terms of figures made available to the public, with a number of papers presented to the cabinet being 'exempt' and not released. Nor did the presentation

Nevertheless, the council is taking an upbeat approach in what it is putting in the public domain, though some figures do not tell the full story of what has been happening. A source within the council privy to some of the financial detail told Thurrock Nub News "the report is couched in accountants' speech and terminology. What is presented is not necessarily incorrect, but it's not the full story." Councillors outside the ruling Labour group have not been briefed on the council's position relation to its debt recovery progress.

The published report to leading councillors says Thurrock Council has now recovered £661m from past investments as part of its ongoing work to reduce its debt, which has reached as high as £1.5 billion after its financial collapse in 2022. The report came with three 'exempt' appendices

The report sets out the progress made so far and the work still underway by the council to sell on its investments or properties and premises acquired and says that a further £131m is expected to be recovered in the coming years, meaning around £800m is aimed for recovery by 2030.

It says, so far, 63% of the original investment portfolio has been moved on and the money returned has been used to reduce council debt owed to the government, which in turn reduces the amount the council spends on interest payments. And it adds: "By reducing this burden, the council is taking important steps towards improving long-term financial stability."

The report says interest on the debt recovered to date had been costing the council around £35m each year. The council has had to borrow money to meet the cost of that interest - but because of its catastrophic financial position it also has to borrow millions more just to get by and maintain statutory services. The total costs of its borrowing for 2025-26 was estimated to be £72.128 million a year - and £73.310 for the coming financial year.

There are 'shades of gray' around the presentation of figures to the cabinet this week, and an apparent absence of reference to 'Capital Direction'. That is the permission granted by the government which allows local authorities to fund its costs for the day-to-day running of the authority by borrowing. While that borrowing is separate to the borrowing to pay off interest charges related to the failed investments, it was necessitated by the failure that effectively bankrupted the council.

Some commentators argue it is disingenuous, at best, not to include capital direction into the financial assessment of the failed scheme's legacy.

The report also skips a deep dive into the cost of recovering money.

it says: "Professional advisory fees in relation to the divestment programme start from FY 23/24 onwards for reporting purposes. Fees to date are £5.3m to date and are forecast to be c. £10.6m by the end of the programme (2028/29)."

However, the council has a team of professionals on it own payroll dedicated to working on the debt recovery and a substantial amount of time working on it has been taken up by its own accountancy staff and, in particular the legal team led by Executive Director of Corporate Services & Monitoring Officer Dan Fenwick, who has spent much of his tenure since joining Thurrock in March last year working on the money recovery and litigation involved. He has frequently been away from his £160,000 a year desk at the council offices in Thurrock, working in London, with some of his town hall duties and responsibilies passed on to an expanded team in his directorate.

Cllr Val Morris-Cook, cabinet member for finance and resources, said: "We know residents want to see the council take every possible step to recover the public money that was lost through bad investments in the past. This work is complex but we are working as effectively as we can to recoup as much money as possible.

"We have made significant recoveries already, with more to come, and have plans in place to divest the remaining investments in a way that maximises the amount recovered.

"The money recovered has been used to pay down our debt, and by reducing the council's debt we are able to reduce interest payments.

"We are also working hard to recover money through litigation against Rockfire and its owner Liam Kavanagh, they are far from off-the-hook here.

"The council is vigorously pursuing civil claims against them in relation to deception and the misappropriation of public funds and will robustly pursue all action where there is strong legal advice and a clear cost benefit case. 

"The Council will also benefit from claims brought by the liquidators for the Kavanagh group of companies against Kavanagh and other parties, as the companies' primary creditor."

Council leader Cllr Lynn Worrall said: "We have to make sure that every penny we can get, we do get. And no-one has anywhere to hide."