A CHADWELL St Mary councillor has spoken of her deep concern that children in the town may continue to miss out – despite a promise from Thurrock Council that money that should have been invested in their futures will be paid out.

Cllr Sara Muldowney, Labour's shadow portfolio holder for the environment, sports and leisure has been investigating the Conservative cabinet's decision to sell off the land known as Flat Irons Field opposite Cole Avenue since July 2021.

When she heard of the plan Cllr Muldowney took action to stop it, saying the land had been bequeathed to the council to be retained for the benefit of local people, particularly children.

Cllr Muldowney says: ""I am thankful to local residents who have hung onto records for decades which proved that the land was not Thurrock Council's to sell, but had been left in trust to the children of Chadwell."

"With only a week's public notice of the decision to sell, this enabled me to intervene quickly and stop the sale of the land."

Cllr Muldowney says Freedom of Information requests, 'which were finally answered last December after a complaint to the Information Commission', revealed that the council had been receiving £1,012 a year from the rent and wayleave of the land but none of this money had been paid into the children's trust set up to receive these funds.

After chasing for answers, Cllr Muldowney received a promise on 18 May this year that payments would be made the following week.

However, to date, payments of only £168 have been made into the trust for the years 2018-2021, meaning that £3,880 is still missing for those four years plus additional thousands still missing from previous years.

At this week's extraordinary meeting of the full council, Cllr Muldowney gained assurances from newly elected council leader Cllr Mark Coxshall that money would be paid into the trust.

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Muldowney said: "I think we need to be clear what has happened here."

"Firstly this administration has tried to sell land which doesn't belong to it, and secondly it has failed to pay thousands of pounds it has received into the charitable trust set up for that purpose."

"I know that in the grand scheme of things these missing thousands are small fry compared to the council's £1.5 billion debt, but having this money would mean a lot to the children of Chadwell."

"Perhaps it might pay for replacement play equipment in Chadwell's run down play areas or for CCTV to protect Chadwell's new playground which was burnt down over the summer before it could be fully installed."

"I hope the government-appointed inspectors will add questions about where this money is, and, why it hasn't been paid into the children's trust, to their investigation."

"Whatever happens now, I will continue to fight for this money on behalf of Chadwell's children"