THE latest war of words over Thurrock Council finances has prompted the authority's lead councillor for finance to rebut opposition claims that the government should be doing more to bail out the borough.

Today (Monday, 22 June) members of the Labour group on the council issued a release calling for a commitment to meet a potential £10 million shortfall in next year's budget.

The Labour chair of the council's Corporate Overview and Scrutiny committee, Cllr Oliver Gerrish said: "My view is very clear – the Tory council needs to loudly and continuously lobby the Government for additional funding. If they do not, the burden of these additional costs will fall on Thurrock taxpayers, either directly through increased bills or with massive cuts to services. The council must act now to avoid this outcome."

That was a view that found little favour with Cllr Shane Hebb, the portfolio holder for finance who gave short shrift to Cllr Gerrish's call.

Cllr Gerrish said: "The effort to deal with the coronavirus means the council has already spent an extra £9.7 million. While the majority of this has been covered by the Government, it seems that there will be additional costs through the year – a conservative estimate is a budget gap of around £10m carried into the next financial year.

"Currently, there is no guarantee that this will be covered by the Government, and as such this represents a black hole in Thurrock Council's budget planning. My view is very clear – the Tory council needs to loudly and continuously lobby the Government for additional funding. If they do not, the burden of these additional costs will fall on Thurrock taxpayers, either directly through increased bills or with massive cuts to services. The council must act now to avoid this outcome.

"At the same time, the impact has not just been on Thurrock Council. Businesses up and down the borough have been hit hard by the crisis. It is imperative that the council leads a coordinated response to get Thurrock's economy back on its feet.

"Just as we have thought about regeneration in the borough over the last 10 years, we now need an economic reconstruction plan to help our businesses recover from what has been an unprecedented disruption."

Cllr Gerrish concluded: "With swift action, I believe the council can get Thurrock back on its feet again and prevent too much of the cost falling on local taxpayers. It needs to act decisively and take a strong lead rather than leaving events to unfold."

However, Cllr Hebb came up with a speedy and determined rebuttal, saying: "As everyone knows, government money is taxpayers money – it is something we all end up paying for. It is disingenuous for Labour to infer a lack of government support from the taxpayer at a time when it has provided over £30m to Thurrock Council, Thurrock's small businesses and people who have been struggling to make ends meet, in the largest crisis since WW2.

"We said we would fix the roof whilst the sun was shining – and we did.

"Residents anticipate that things will not be able to go back as they are. Government is listening but can we cannot expect the taxpayer to pick up the bill for income from things like theatre tickets and parking charges when they are not being used.

"While we are calling for all money we can reasonably ask for, there will be a loss of council income. This council has been in constant interaction with national government and the civil service throughout – we have received millions-of-pounds of help, but will also need to stand on our own two feet.

"Labour can call for more government funding, and make easy claims when they serve as an opposition party – but residents know that when government "pays more", that they as residents, will or are, actually paying for it themselves at the end of the day.

"What Labour haven't acknowledged that Thurrock has built reserves up to circa £18.5m. Reserves, which may have to be used in part to help us make considerate adjustments to services that all of us use.

"That has only been possible on making £34m from the investment strategy which they endorsed for years, put their claims to fame on at times gone past, and made many claims on how best to spend the extra money the council earns every year from that strategy.

"While our reserves may have to be used in part, we will rebuild them over the medium term.

"We said we would fix the roof whilst the sun was shining – and we did. That "swift action" was ahead of its time, and that approach has meant Thurrock Council now has financial resilience to the levels that many other councils do not have following the COVID-19 crisis."