A THURROCK councillor has spoken of his concern that the impetus to protect Grangewaters outdoor activity centre as a community asset, sparked by a campaign launched when Thurrock Council announced it planned to sell the site, may be waning.

And Belhus ward councillor Mike Fletcher says he wants to ensure that the authority 'retains a will' to make a new community initiative work rather then selling the site to the highest commercial bidder. He is worried it could be a case of 'out of sight, out of mind'.

After months of speculation and Nub News investigations to get to the truth, the cash-strapped council finally conceded in June last year that it planned to sell off assets including Grangewaters.

That sparked waves of protest from users of the borough's council-run facilities - which also include the Thameside Complex.

As the call went up to save Grangewaters, the council moved quickly to concede a position and say that it recognised it was a community asset and that plans to dispose of Grangewaters had been moved onto a back burner, with a timescale of several years.

That allowed a window of opportunity for negotiation and discussion, but Cllr Fletcher fears that may mean a disposal could materialise outside the public gaze. He told Nub News: "It's all gone a bit quiet since Christmas but I'm trying to see if there is anything I can do. I don't want this to be a case of out of sight means out of mind.

"What's clear from talking to portfolio holder Barry Johnson is that the council has no interest in continuing to run it: his line is that (a) Grangewaters needs investment and (b) the council don't have the skills to manage it (a pretty poor pretext for putting it out to tender).

"What was also clear from talking to the management team before Christmas is that they reckon there is enough interest and capacity to increase income and that could balance out any future investment.

"But there has to be a will there to make it work, and I believe the Tories are too fixated on finding ways to block their budget hole (and some of them, too sold on the idea of planting flats there) to look at this seriously.

"The only way, I believe, to stop them selling it to the highest bidder would be to do what they appear to be about to do with the Thameside and set up a community group to run it. I very much want to try and ensure this is possible and that includes keeping plans very much in the public eye."