THURROCK Council's increasingly insufficient social housing supply is causing depravation and hardship for many families. 

The recent flooding of the Brisbane House tower block and evacuation of 64 families has brought the problem into sharp focus, with the availability of properties leaving many families trapped in unsuitable accommodation.

The Brisbane House catastrophe has highlighted the issue but many families have long been suffering from the council's lack of capacity to meeting rising demand.

That capacity has not been helped by the decanting of hundreds of families from the Blackshots tower blocks that are currently being demolished - but even going back beyond that,the borough's social housing supply is in crisis.

And the council's financial crisis and the legacy of years of 'silo working' and lack of a cogent housing policy means little immediate hope of things improving.

Across Thurrock for many years Nub News and other media have focussed on a shoddy and ineffective repairs system and squalid living conditions but the problems continue.

Today Nub News highlights the plight of one family as an exemplar of what is wrong and the impact on children and adults crammed into unsatisfactory and unhealthy homes.

There's no shortage of good intent, but harsh reality is that families like Julie Bright and her nine children who currently live on St Chad's Road in Tilbury have a bleaker future than they might expect. 

It's a situation that has left mum Julie on the brink of despair. 

Aware that she is likely to draw criticism from people who are critical of the benefits system, bravely she contacted us to tell her story - and in turn we have challenged Thurrock Council to face up to improving her situation. But solutions are hard to find. 

This is Julie's story:

I moved to my current address in April 2015, alone with all nine of my children as their father had walked out on us after a ten year relationship.

This is a six bedroom property and we got moved here from Chadwell St Mary as my youngest son Charlie was born with spina bifida and it was told to me he would never walk and be a full time wheelchair user.

He also has hydrocephalus which is a life threatening condition and is controlled by a shunt in his brain that was placed in his head at 11 days old. Should that block or malfunction can be fatal and I've nearly lost him three times.

Charlie also has epilepsy, is pump fed through his stomach as his swallow has never been safe, his bladder and bowel do not work so I have to catheterise him every two hours, urine bag at bedtime and bowel washouts every day.

He is also medicated 18 times a day, non-verbal also and autistic. 

Charlie is 11 years of age now but was a baby when I moved in here and he has a downstairs bedroom which is right next door to my downstairs bedroom so was perfect in the event of a emergency I could tend to him.

He attends Beacon Hill Academy which is a special school.

Next we have my twin sons, Reggie and Ronnie now 13 and both have ADHD, GDD, and Reggie has just received his autism diagnosis we have been waiting two years for, and Ronnie is currently on the waiting list for his autism assessment.

Reggie with the recent autism diagnosis has been self-harming since last September due to very bad mental health, was a very upsetting and tough time for me to navigate but I'm glad to say after paediatric intervention of medication, since July this year he seems to have turned a corner, the twins share a very small bedroom and I have a psychotherapist report from my sons' school stating he needs his own room due to being able to regulate his emotions. Reg and Ron both attend special schools but separate ones.

Then we have my 15-year-old son Max, he has autism and Asperger's, also GDD. Max has the tiniest room which I've been told by a surveyor that is legally too small for a child of his age and height, his 5ft 9 in height and has a bed, chest of draws and that's it, his door doesn't open fully as it hits the bed, no room to get changed and as you can imagine going through puberty and having to come downstairs to the wet room or my room to get changed can be embarrassing for him and he very much struggles with his emotions.

Then we have Alfie who is 18 and suffers with bad mental health, and Harry who is 16 who share a room, both 6ft 4 and are very cramped. My son Tyler, 22, still lives at home. My eldest son and daughter have since moved out and got their own kids etc but for context when we all moved in here most of these boys were small kids so we did fit in here fine.

Damp rising by one of the children's beds.

Six months after moving in I noticed damp appearing in rooms, I reported to the council naturally and it's been whitewashed so many times I've lost count over the years.

Air bricks were put in, vents in the windows, and still the damp persists. I have a extension on the back of the property that was put in years before I came here.

I have a sub-stack in the cupboard of the kitchen and this is a outlet for human waste should pipes become blocked. I was told by drainage that this should be on the outside of the property after once again, the sub-stack had overflowed with human faeces and urine from half the street as this is where it comes out should it be blocked somewhere.

This ended up all in my kitchen, with spilled out into my living room and backed up my bath I had at the time and toilets.

My wet room has been refurbished three times due to damp, it was done again in April this year is again currently very wet and mouldy.

The hallway wall has always been 'wet' to touch and they have no explanation for this,

Two years ago I noticed a crack in this extension, and reported it to the council. They saw it and proceeded to tell me it just needs some 'filler'.

As the months have rolled on beginning of this year I contacted a solicitor regarding the damp and this unexplained crack as I was getting nowhere with the council.

They sent a surveyor out and he conducted his report. He contacted the council and they were ordered to address the issue. They came and whitewashed the walls yet again.

Damp in the children's bedrooms is rife.

I was also told when I have my heating on to have the windows open wide and that there were too many people 'breathing' in the house and that was causing all this issue.

I also stated that they could attend 8am to 2pm to carry out works I set this time frame as at 8am my SEN children get their taxis for school. The reason for the 2pm needing to leave is because I have to set up Charlie's bowel washout equipment and do not want workmen in here when I am having to carry out a medical procedure which is very invasive.

Safe to say the workmen always turned up 11 o'clock onward and complained when I asked them to leave.

When it came to them addressing the crack in the extension, Reggie's mental health had reached a dangerous stage of him wanting to take lots of pills. Him cutting his arms and him wanting to get out the house to jump from a bridge.

So I'd locked this house down for his safety, locked pills and any sharp objects in my room and he was so mentally ill he wasn't attending school as I wanted to keep him safe and he feel he couldn't cope in school.

His school have been fantastic with supporting me and agreed this is his safe space and would be best to navigate this extremely difficult time from home where I could support and try and navigate him through this.

This in turn meant I couldn't let the council in at that current time, all which I explained to them and provided proof.

My mental health and anxiety naturally was affected at this time as I was worried for my son. 

Fast forward to July this year and Reggie was becoming much happier I received a court letter from Thurrock Council, taking me to court because I hadn't let them access the property to address the crack.

I had to attend on the 29th of September which I did, armed with 84 photos of over the years plus 50 emails as when I reported a repair. I always send an email so I have a paper trail in case they try and tell me I never 'called'.

Also I produced a photograph of Charlie on his bowel washout chair to show them that this in fact does happen and what that may look like. I made sure his dignity was kept but wanted them to have a visual of what I have to do with Charlie. 

It was agreed with the housing and the legal team that they would send repairs between the hours I stated, and that they have to give me 48 hours notice before they attended and that a surveyor would attend again.

I wanted a different surveyor with a 'new set of eyes' but the same one turned up. I don't trust his work or judgement.

But he told me Mears, who carry out repairs, would attend. Sure enough Mears turned up and on looking at the crack in the living room as they looked up you could see daylight! Which means it had pulled away from the house more!

I was told by Mears' workman that he would raise the job that day to make it water tight,

I requested that council officers Bill Sergeant and Lisa Mansfield come and attend the property as I wanted them to see for themselves how bad and dilapidated the whole property is.

I also wanted them to see evidence of the rats and mice now getting into the cracked building.

I can't put anything in my kitchen cupboards at the bottom as it gets rodents running over it. I would like to state before this crack appeared in all the time I'd lived here I'd never had this issue with rodents.

Also I have lots of broken furniture etc in my garden that I've asked Thurrock council to take and was told at court it would be sorted. I'm on benefits but I'm being quoted hundreds of pounds for it to be removed which I haven't got. It's still in my garden to this present day. 

Rodent dropping are frequently found in the kitchen.

Anyway, back to Bill and Lisa attending. They were taken aback how bad it is in here and now you can see daylight to my neighbour's garden through the side crack in the house!

I was told they would go back and discuss what to do.

To this present day I have no answers, my housing officer rang me last week with no update as she hadn't heard from anyone.

Living here now is intolerable. I've told my housing officer we need moving as this extension cannot be fixed with us in here and temporary housing wouldn't be an answer as my children need a permanent solution given their disabilities.

On top of all this I have had huge problems with waste collection though there has been some response.

On Monday, 24 November Julie told us: "I'd like to thank the council for getting my rubbish cleared and getting my three bins replaced. The council have replaced three of the five black bins I have which were cracked, but it took weeks for that to happen and rubbish was stacked up in my garden.

Much of it is still there, though some has been cleared.

Julie summed up by reflecting on the overall situation, saying: "It just seems everyway I turn I am fobbed off and not listened too.

"I know this is a very difficult situation and my family needs a lot of support – but it's not the children's fault and they are the ones being let down by the council."

In the wake of Julie's extensive list of events and complaints, Nub News shared all the information with Thurrock Council. We are not pressing them about publishing a story, you would not be reading this if the council had responded effectively. But they have not.

The matter has been referred to the very top of the council chain, including the director of children's services, the director of adult social care and the director of place. Leading councillors have been made aware – as has Thurrock MP Jen Craft who has tried to bring her own pressure to bear on the authority.

Children's services director Sheila Murphy did respond an acknowledge the problems, saying: "The concerns here seem to be primarily about housing issues.

She added: "Having read the resident's email it does sound like the children are having their special needs met."

However, she agreed that it might be appropriate for cross departmental resources to be brought together. I'm happy to look at a joined-up response with other services."

That view was echoed by the Director of place, Claire Demmel who told Nub News she would be pressing for a cross-service conference.

But little, it appears has happened over the two weeks since we raised this with the council about meaningful repairs to the property or alternative accommodation.

On Wednesday, 26 November we did receive a formal response from the council. It said: "Thurrock Council is working with Ms Bright to make repairs to the property she and her family live in while making sure that repairs only take place between 8am and 2pm, in line with her request.

"Last week the council cleared a large amount of waste from the rear garden of the house, and will return to complete works to seal the garden and prevent access by rodents. New general waste bins were also delivered last week to help better manage waste at the property.

"The council is also working with the tenant on her request for a six-bedroom property, which was made in April 2025. She has been awarded band 3 priority to bid for suitable properties, although the council has advised her that finding a six-bedroom house may take some time as there are not many council properties of that size in the borough.

"We will continue to work with the resident to make repairs to the home and garden as quickly as possible."

COMMENT

The housing problem in Thurrock is long in the making and over years has developed under differing political administrations.

No one party can escape a share of the blame.

And it shouldn't be about blame, it should be about finding solutions. And action!

There are undoubtedly going to be many who read this who will be critical of Ms Bright – and will comment with social prejudice about benefits and people who are all take and don't contribute.

But whether that's your view or not – and everyone has a right to an opinion – the real people who are suffering here are Julie's young children. No child in Thurrock should be living in damp and squalor where their ill-health is jeopardised by mould, damp and rodents.

There is a duty of care that needs to be addressed. There are 77 or more assistant directors or heads of department at Thurrock Council, costing hundreds of thousands of pounds a week. We have a toxic imbalance of responsibility about the things that really do matter. With that many bright minds, how is it so hard to get effective solutions?

Julie and her family live within a stone's throw of the flooded Brisbane Tower. It seems imponderable that so much misery in Tilbury happens by chance. Which raises the question, do the powers that be really care about borough folk at the 'wrong end' of the social and financial spectrum? Do Pontius Pilates in the town hall wash their hands of social responsibility?

The answer to those questions can only be found in action, not words and platitudes.

Thurrock Nub News calls on Thurrock Council to give this case the attention it deserves. It is, almost inevitably going to be one of many similar pieces of casework officers are dealing with, though the scale of the Bright family's need is somewhat extraordinary.

Regardless of the political procrastination and trying to stay clear of the blame game, it's hard to see there being a better future for those in housing need in Thurrock.

Not least when the commissioner-led Council continues to sell off its land assets and slash most budgets, though in fairness they have been some schemes put in progress that do offer a hope.

They include the garages into homes project in South Ockendon and whatever eventually emerges as housing replacement on the Blackshots site where the where the towers are currently coming down.

In the short term though, it's families like Julie Bright's that should be the focus of attention with a refreshed and cross departmental approach to social care and housing. We can only live in hope.