THURROCK Council is sitting on a £12million pot of gold that could see more than £1million released for a swathe of community projects, it has emerged.

A review of the borough's planning department in 2023 highlighted section 106 agreements (S106) had not been "effectively implemented".

This is money that is negotiated with a developer when a planning application comes into force.

It is committed to certain community needs such as sports provision or a new primary school but money can just sit there if, for instance, a school doesn't go ahead.

However, if the council wishes to use the money already committed to a project for a different process it would have to go through a legal process.

Labour cabinet member Cllr Lee Watson, who represents West Thurrock and South Stifford, has been leading a review into the council's S106 strategy.

Speaking at a meeting of Thurrock's Place overview and scrutiny committee on Tuesday (10 September), she said: "One of my priorities was to get S106 into some sort of order so that we know what we've got and where it is, what is allocated and what is not.

"To give you an update of how much we've found, the total in the pot is £12.688,683. £11 million has been committed into projects agreed through negotiations with the developer while going through the planning application.

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"Uncommitted we've got £1.6 million and this means that it could be used for any community. It's all based on wards."

Cllr Watson added: "At the moment we are systematically going through and meeting the chairs of forums and we are producing a report that will say how much S106 is in that ward, how much is committed to what project, how much has been spent and how much is still ready to be spent."

She said money was 'sitting in the pot for historic community projects' which were now being reassessed and added: "We've got to now look at those historic projects and work with the chairs and the communities and the ward members on what's going to happen next."

Cllr Gary Byrne, chairman of the committee, said the review was overdue and commented: "We've been asking for this money to be opened up for years.

"Will this actually open the treasure chest or will we open it and find more red tape again? Are we actually going to have the golden ticket to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory?"

He asked: "We are going to put out millions into the community - is that is going to happen?"

In response, Cllr Watson said: "The money is in the ward and it will be very open and transparent and it will be going to the forum. There will be reports on each single ward."