THURROCK's new mayor has pledged an innovative and flamboyant civic year and a borough that is open for business

Speaking at the first full council meeting of the new civic year, held in the council's new extension - but not in the mayoral chamber which remained closed and blacked out because of a botched furnishment and building project – he outlined his plans for his time in office.

He said: "I have a profound belief in the openness of democracy in Thurrock. It's that openness that allows me to stand here as the youngest person to become our first citizen and to become out first gay first citizen.

"I have got a profound belief in Thurrock's potential. When you look at our borough crest you will see a mythical sea creature that's crying tears of oil and cement, reflecting our industrial heritage and what our borough meant to world commerce, to the countries of the wider world. That will be the theme of my mayoralty. A borough that's open for business.

"With Thurrock's economic potential today I truly believe this borough will rival London's square mile very, very shortly. To this end I will roll out the red carpet for the borough.

"It is my intention to launch a mayoral roll of honour because there are communities and charities, industry and businesses, individuals and partners that are doing remarkable things every single day."

He pledged to hold them up and honour them as the 'things that inspire us all'.

Cllr Halden announced that his mayoral charities would be the intensive care unit for babies at Basildon Hospital and, saying Thurrock has a proud history of being 'open and supportive of refugees' and he would be supporting the refugees, their children and those who support them across the borough.

He concluded: "My friends, I can only promise to give every hour that God gives me and every ounce of energy that I have got. I'm ready to get to work."

Cllr James Halden

Tributes were paid by councillors to outgoing mayor Sue Shinnick, particularly acknowledging the difficult times she had gone through because of the closure of the council chamber and the mayoral facilities within it due to the council's inability to cope with flooding and electrical problems over recent months, and also the covid pandemic. Your can see and hear those tributes including congratulations to Cllr Gledhill via this link: https://youtu.be/nGFBAQFCJRA.

After the tributes and acknowledgements the council then moved on to the business of the new administrative year and the ruled Conservative group brought the axe down hard on the diminished Labour opposition, refusing to cede any chairs or vice chairmanships on committees to the opposition and flying in the face of recent convention by appointing Orsett Conservative councillor Sue Little as deputy mayor rather than the establishing tradition of appointing alternate deputy mayors and mayors from the two main political groups.

Council leader Rob Gledhill, who last year pledged that chair and vice chair appointments 'should be politically proportioned going forward', reneged on that pledge and in a caustic attack damned the Labour opposition – you can see and hear his plans for a revised cabinet via this link: https://youtu.be/2hq6D4xmFSI

Despite the continued failing to deliver the new civic offices on time and with conflicting views on its cost, Cllr Gledhill first eulogised about it and what services it would be offering to councillors and the public., saying "We are going to deliver a chamber that will stand for a generation."

He then outlined some of the coming Queen's Jubilee events and future civic events before detailing a new look cabinet with new roles for some of its members, including a new role for his former deputy leader Cllr Shane Hebb who will now lead on transformation in the borough. Cllr Mark Coxshall will be the new deputy leader.

Cllr Gledhill then turned on Labour accusing them of not delivering scrutiny on council projects and using the committee meets as political platforms, rather than making constructive contributions to the council.

Cllr Gledhill said: "During previous years there has been a belief that having opposition chairs would lead to better decision making. However, all that has led to is headline grabbing complaints when recommendations from overview and scrutiny are not listened to, that they are ignored.

"With Conservative councillors in all but three of the wards and with an overall majority, we need strong scrutiny and strong decisions. Not once did I see a Labour scrutiny chair appear in front of us at cabinet yet I saw Conservative chairs give their reports regularly.

"To be honest, if any cabinet member or anyone else wished to find out what opposition chairs thought, they would have to look at various local news outlets. This isn't good enough. We tried that same approach year on year and got the same results."

Mr Gledhill said, as a result, all the chairs and vice chairs' positions would be taken by Conservatives with the exception of vice chairman of the planning transport and regeneration scrutiny committee, which will be occupied by independent councillor, John Allen, who Cllr Gledhill said was "not afraid to speak his mind."

Labour leader Cllr John Kent - whose microphone later packed up, the latest in a long list of failures by the council's blighted communications management – refuted Cllr Gledhill's allegations and said previous similar actions had resulted in administrations being accused of "marking their own homework".

He added: "He should be honest enough to say 'we are doing it because we can'. I would just remind everybody what he said at last year's mayor making, that each year discussions were undertaken between group leaders and proposed the chair and vice chair appointments should be politically proportioned going forward.

"It's clear, be it nationally or locally, you can't believe a word the Tories say."

The new cabinet:

Leader Rob Gledhill

Deputy leader Mark Coxshall – regeneration

Deborah Huelin – adults and health

Barry Johnson – childrens services, social care and education

Luke Spillman – housing

Ben Maney – highways and transport

Jack Duffin – finance and communcations

Andrew Jeffries – environment and air quality

Shane Hebb – transformation and performance

Qaiser Abbas – communities and equalities