A PUBLIC petition has succeeded by just two votes in forcing Thurrock Council's Conservative administration to face another debate over its failure to call for a public inquiry into the catastrophic collapse of the authority's finances.

The petition is the latest attempt by residents, together with opposition councillors, to get an independent probe into the decision-making that saw the council lose hundreds of millions of pounds by buying bonds in solar energy and finance companies.

Among other protest actions by residents was a petition on the 'Change' platform which accumulated 5,579 signatures, which were presented by Cllr Gary Byrne on behalf of its organiser John Radford. The council rejected the call for the inquiry, saying it was not needed in a report back to cllr Byrne. The council's response can be read via this link. It summed up, saying: "An independent inspection into the position and doing anything further at this stage would as a consequence add further costs for the Council with no obvious benefit."

An earlier opposition motion at full council calling for a public inquiry was also defeated by just one vote, the casting second vote from mayor Cllr Sue Little.

A second petition, in physical form with 1,697 written signatures, was gathered by disaffected residents in Corringham and Stanford-le-Hope over a number of weeks.

It was presented to the council's cabinet at their November meeting by Kabul Sandu, one of those who collected names.

Mr Sandu and fellow residents, including local campaigner Peter O'Rourke who drew up the wording for the petition, originally hoped to present it to the full council – but they were initially told it would not be accepted because it was too similar to the one accepted on residents' behalf and presented by Cllr Byrne.

That provoked a lobby of protest from several ward councillors and the decision of the council's legal and monitoring officer, Ms Asmat Hussain, was eventually set aside with the caveat it would have to be presented to cabinet alone.

Kabul Sandu delivers his speech to cabinet.

Mr Sandu did that on Wednesday, 8 November at the same time as he delivered a passionate speech.

Mr O'Rourke and Mr Sandu also delivered a copy of their petition to government minister Michael Gove's Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

The petition calls on the council and Mr Gove to "take all the necessary action to hold a full public inquiry into the financial collapse at Thurrock Council. We further request that should the inquiry find any person guilty of negligence, the evidence gathered will be handed over to the police for criminal action, to be taken against them on behalf of the residents of Thurrock."

Following receipt of the petition, the council went into full check mode and ruled 196 of them, saying they were not valid. Under its constitution the authority is forced to hold a full council debate if it gets a request to do so from 1500 residents, so had just two more been scrubbed - the residents' plea would not be heard.

However, the petition stands and at full council tomorrow (Wednesday, 31 January) a debate will take place.

The meeting agenda offers the recommendation: "That Full Council consider the petition and make any recommendations it feels appropriate as a response to the petition."