THURROCK residents have been "living above their means" for years and consequently face a 9.99 per cent council tax increase, a leading Thurrock Conservative councillor has said.

Thurrock's cabinet met on Wednesday to discuss the council's draft budget, which will add almost £144 a year to the council tax bill for a Band D property.

The council was given the go ahead by the Government to raise council tax an extra 5 per cent above the current 5 per cent limit without holding a referendum.

It will help plug a funding gap of £469 million this year and £184 million for 2023/24.

Councillors said a reluctance to raise council tax to the maximum allowed in previous years meant the council had missed out on about £50 million of funding. With inflation biting they said they now had a "duty" to raise it to preserve vital services and bring it more in line with other authorities.

Cllr Deborah Arnold, deputy leader and councillor responsible for adults and health, said: "Thurrock's not in a bubble of special pricing. We're having to pay increases and prices that all other boroughs are having to pay but we're not bringing in enough.

"The responsible thing for me to do is to support this budget and grit our teeth and recognise we've been living above our means as residents in this borough with the types of services we want to support."

Thurrock's Labour group have criticised the proposed tax increase but Mark Coxshall, leader of the council said: "Do we make a modest increase now and still keep us as the cheapest in Essex or do we repeat these mistakes of the past and give away another £8.5million.

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"Conservatives will take the tough decision to fix this. We will ask for a tax increase that will still give us a tax rate that other councils would envy but still with the means to grow the tax base and therefore make public services more sustainable. Let me be clear the decision not to increase means there is no future for Thurrock as a standalone council.

"If they are serious about running the council they should look at the budget instead of playing to the gallery."