THURROCK Council has pledged to make staff safety a priority after concerns were raised they are "sitting ducks" and a target for aggressive members of the public.

Cllr Lynn Worrall raised the issue at last week's full council meeting , describing how reception staff had nothing to protect them in the authority's new civic building.

In response, it was confirmed that a review of security measures is taking place.

Cllr Worrell said: "They sit on an island on a stool and people that are very, very angry are sitting there with a lot of anger and abuse directed at the reception staff sitting very vulnerably and open.

"They've been promised a new area since the day that reception opened. They are sitting ducks for anything that walks through that door. We have to get a scoot on here."

In response, Cllr Ben Maney, councillor responsible for regeneration and highways, said: "This hasn't been given the attention this deserves. The director of service has been quite open about that. There has been a changeover of staff and this has fallen through the cracks.

"That's not acceptable. Front line staff do a fantastic job on behalf of the council and they are the first people that members of the public see when they come into the building.

Cllr Maney added: "We are committed to making this a priority now. The building was designed to be open so that staff weren't sitting behind a desk, closed off from members of the public coming into the building.

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"It's unfortunate that human behaviour means that we can't have that kind of environment. The reality is we can't. We do need to do something about it and it has to happen very soon."

Cllr Maney said a review of security measures in the town hall was underway "to protect staff, councillors and the public".

This includes providing interview rooms that divide staff and interviewees and hand-held receivers for staff to call for a security presence if needed.

He said: "We've had a constant security presence in the town hall since it opened but we will now be implementing a series of further measures.

"We will soon be relocating the security office from the old reception to the current reception area and connecting panic alarms and cctv coverage of the interview rooms security office.

"We've commissioned a new design for a reception desk that will provide greater protection from staff and staff will be involved in agreeing the final design."