IN the wake of a damning report on the state of local authority finances across the country, the councillor responsible for Thurrock's financial administration says it is bucking the national trend and is in one of the best financial situations of any unitary authority.

In a joint report from the Local Government Information Unit (LGiU) and The Municipal Journal, the state of local government finances has been described as 'dire'.

The damning indictment came from Jonathan Carr-West, Chief Executive of LGiU, who said: "The message continues to be the same, a broken record. It is simply unacceptable that the Government has let things get to this point.

"Councils deserve better as they work tirelessly, day in and day out, to deliver the best quality services for their residents.

"This isn't local government asking for more money. This is about a fundamentally flawed system that has been broken for years and the Government continually refusing to acknowledge or engage in a proper solution. Sticking plasters will not solve these critical issues.

"Our social care system is no longer on the edge, it's fallen off the cliff. Our children's services aren't at breaking point, they're broken. These are issues that cannot wait another year to be solved."

And Municipal Journal editor Heather Jameson said: "The local government funding system is in desperate need of an overhaul. Despite a decade of austerity, local government is doing a valiant job of holding their services together, but they can't go on forever without proper funding.

"While the Government is reviewing the current funding system, the reforms are unlikely to go far enough to pay for the vital services that care for our elderly, protect our children, and help our communities thrive."

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But amid that gloomy prognosis, Thurrock's Conservative cabinet member for finance, Cllr Shane Hebb, said: "Thanks to our innovative service reform, commercial and investment strategies Thurrock has a balanced budget and our Council Tax remains one of the lowest of all unitary authorities in the country while we make sure that frontline services are being given the right resources to achieve continued improvement.

Last year we did not increase Council Tax and this year we have proposed a below maximum increase.

"Thurrock Council has increased its general reserve by nearly 40%, put £1m towards new police officers, £670,000 to tackle anti-social behaviour, £500,000 for mental health support in local schools and £1.5m into visible environmental improvements over and above the traditional level of services – all of these discretional services are what Thurrock taxpayers wish to see in place in their community.

"The council has also been able to spend significant amounts of investment income in transforming social care services for children and adults that will result in better outcomes for our most vulnerable residents.

"Last year the council received over £31m in income from investments and in the coming year we project that we will receive over £33m. This is all money which is used penny-for-penny for the benefit of local residents and allows us to launch new initiatives and improve the services we already provide while keeping Council Tax increases to a minimum.

"Thurrock Council is in one of the best financial situations of any unitary authority. The simple facts are that Thurrock Council currently has a balanced budget up to 2022/23 and a published surplus of £11m over the same period with no cuts to services, thus ensuring that the services that residents use, depend on and want are in place for years to come".