THURROCK Council officers have backtracked in the wake of a campaign by local ward councillors who wanted action to stop trading of fish from a container at the back of a Grays shop.

At the beginning of March residents and the councillors expressed concern about the impact on the local environment from the container close to the junction of London Road and Parker Road.

Thurrock Nub News told of the concerns in our initial story.

Cllr Tony Fish said: "Our residents have had to put up with this smell for far too long. When you factor in the traffic disruption to the area too, you can see that this is unacceptable.

"We want to put a stop to it once and for all."

However, despite residents' complaints to the council and the intervention of Cllr Fish and colleagues Jane Pothecary and Martin Kerin supporting them, officers told Thurrock Nub News there were no issues.

On 19 March we reported on a council response, which said: "Thurrock Council has investigated from a food safety perspective and no issues have been identified.

"No nuisance was witnessed"

"The environmental protection team visited the premises on several occasions including outside of normal hours and no statutory nuisance was witnessed."

A month later the three councillors, without being told why, have now been informed that an odour abatement order has been served.

Despite the lack of information and an explanation of why the council has changed its mind, the councillors have issued a joint statement, saying: "We welcome this as a very long overdue step in the right direction, and are cautiously optimistic that it will make an impact. If it doesn't, we will be back.

"We have been fighting with our residents for a very long time to resolve this issue. We welcome this 'Odour Abatement Order' and see it as a very welcome step forward.

"We will now monitor the situation and, if needed, intervene again."