CRITICS of Thurrock Council's ruling Conservative group have asked for more answers, following news that another showcase project has been scrapped.

As revealed on Thurrock Nub News, the Tories have pulled the plug on plans to demolish part of the civic offices in Grays no longer in use by the council and build around 80 social housing flats on the site.

Housing portfolio holder Cllr Luke Spillman has blamed 'global factors' that have pushed up the borrowing interest rate as the reason why the scheme has been scrapped. He says the change in interest rates have added around £11 million to the cost of the project so it is no longer viable.

Neither he, nor a statement issued by the Conservatives cancelling the project, mentioned the fact the council has gone bust because of the authority's fail 'borrow to invest' strategy. The council's fiscal reputation is in the mire and it has had to go cap in hand to the government for hundreds of millions of pounds of bail-out money because no-one else is likely to risk lending to it.  

The council has submitted a section 114 order to the government which means the council has to curtail spending. No new expenditure is permitted, with the exception of that funding statutory services, including safeguarding vulnerable people, however existing commitments and contracts will continue to be honoured. Any spending that is not essential or which can be postponed should not take place.

The only allowable expenditure permitted under an emergency protocol would include the following categories:

• existing staff payroll and pension costs
• expenditure on goods and services which have already been received
• expenditure required to deliver the council's provision of statutory services at a minimum possible level
• urgent expenditure required to safeguard vulnerable citizens
• expenditure required through existing legal agreements and contracts
• expenditure funded through ring-fenced grants
• expenditure necessary to achieve value for money and / or mitigate additional
• in year costs

Councillors have 21 days from the issue of a Section 114 notice to discuss the implications at a full council meeting and an extraordinary meeting has been called for Monday, 9 January. It will deal only with the financial situation and all papers related to the crisis can be viewed via this link.

Cllr Luke Spillman.

There is, on paper at least, a loophole that might allow the council to press on with its housing development, as all spending, income and borrowing related to housing is managed within what is known as the Housing Revenue Account (HRA). Technically, this is ringfenced and the terms of the Section 114 are not applied to it. The HRA's income is that derived from rents and sale of properties and is generally regarded as a different financial stream to the council's other financial activities.

However, senior oficers and commissioners now managing Thurrock's financial affairs have already suggested they may be able to adapt the rules adn cash with the HRA could be used in the wider context of the council's finances in the current exceptional circumstances. The senior director managing the HRA's finances is the same man who has just submitted the Section 114 notice and it appears inconcievale he would sign off on a 'non-essential' spending plan at a time when the council will be shutting down many local services.

Labour opposition leader Cllr John Kent says the latest twist in the Tories' controversial civic office extension project just opens up more questions.

He says: "This is the latest chapter in the scandal of the new council offices that nobody wanted.

"The new building was to be paid for by selling this land to a private developer - we said, at the time, that was unrealistic.

"When it became clear that we were right, the Tories announced - without the support of any council report - they would build council housing on the site. 

"That was always fanciful and has, cynically, been pulled on the day before Christmas.

"This is a scandal made and delivered by the Tories that have been running Thurrock Council since 2016. 

"We know they never take responsibility for their actions but it is, frankly, an insult to try and blame Vladimir Putin.

"Serious questions remain. How much has the whole new Civic Offices project cost and how will it be funded without the money from the sale of this land?

"And, having bankrupted the council, it is inevitable that large schemes, such as this, won't be able to go ahead.

"The Tories need to come clean on which scheme will be scrapped next."

Cllr Lynn Worrall

The Labour group's housing spokesperson, Cllr Lyn Worrall is equally scathing, saying: "When this project came to the housing scrutiny last year it took me all of five minutes into the report to know a shovel was never ever going to hit the ground.

"It was pie in the sky and the finances simply did not add up.

"If private developers could not make it viable, this calamity Tory cabinet was never going to pull it off.

"I was accused of having 'no vision' by Cllr Spillman and this was going to be a 'jewel in Thurrock's crown'.

"Well, here we are and another of Luke's grand ideas has collapsed costing Thurrock residents tens of thousands of pounds.

"They have had experts, consultants and officers working on this for more than a year.

"It was never going to work as a housing development. Just another doomed Tory project led by Cllr Spillman.

"This is just the latest in a line of shelved projects and it will not be the last."