IN the wake of Thurrock Council's bid to put a positive spin on its plans to close the Thameside Theatre in Grays as a benefit to the wider borough community, one of the most respected members of the local world or arts and culture who has previously been honoured by the council, has delivered a damning personal indictment of its plans.

And Vic Gray, the chair of Arts Thurrock, says the council is being deceitful, dilatory and disingenuous in its approach to the issue.

Mr Gray is the chair of Thurrock Courts Players who was born, bred and worked as a teacher in Thurrock. He was given the award for Leisure and Culture in Thurrock Council's Civic Awards in 2011.

There can be few more popular or revered figures of considerable experience in the borough in the world of theatre and the arts and as an active member of the community. This week, for example, he has been building the set for Courts' latest production at the Thameside – he really is a man of action.

Yet he says he is appalled by the lack of consultation by the council over the closure of the Thameside complex and its features including the theatre and museum and he is scathing of the attitude and actions of senior councillors – in particular Cllrs Deb Huelin and Mark Coxshall, who were featured in the council's 'upbeat' press release that was reported on Nub News.

In a forthright conversation he describes the council's attitude as 'insulting'.

Mr Grays says: "In your recent article, you quote Cllr Huellin as saying 'we….. are listening to the concerns and ideas coming forward'.

"This is patently untrue. I was invited to represent Arts Thurrock at a meeting about the Thameside Complex. Cllrs Huellin and Coxhall have openly stated that they have extremely limited experience of the theatre and I was looking forward to giving them some first hand experience at the theatre.

"Thurrock Courts Players have a play on this week and it would have given them a great opportunity to find out how a production is staged and the facilities that are needed to make it work. They called the meeting at High House in Purfleet. I wrote asking for it to be changed to the Thameside for the reasons above and they refused.

"They don't know what damage they are causing but, what is worse, they don't want to know! What was even more insulting was the written response:

'The reason High House Production Park was chosen as the venue is because the space lends itself to the roundtable discussion to take place and there is more space to provide greater social distancing.'

"Anybody that knows the complex will realise that this is a pathetic attempt at an excuse and is simply another example of a long list of underhand attempts to silence our genuine concerns.

"Cllr Huellin may be hailed by the council as a "community champion" but she will single-handedly wreck the cultural community and probably be totally oblivious to the damage she will have done.

"Her ideas to expand activities are laudable but she wants to destroy what we already have.

"Without the Thameside, there will be no more touring productions and the two main amateur groups are already looking at venues outside the borough. Thurrock Courts Players and TOPS Onstage provide five shows a year and have combined audience figures of more than 5,000.

"Both of them are multi-award winning groups and their performances are appreciated by audiences beyond Thurrock. They will survive in spite of the council making it impossible for them to continue.

"However, the people of Thurrock will have to make do with Cllr Huellin's version of the performing arts which will need to be watered down to enable it to fit in the spaces she thinks are going to be adequate.

"In spite of the underhand tactics the councillors have used against us, I think it is important to try to maintain a dialogue and so I will be attending the meeting. My fear is that they will portray it in the media as consultation when it will be the very opposite."