WARD councillors in Chadwell St Mary have welcomed welcomed the placement of an additional bench at the bottom end of Orsett Heath by Thurrock Council.

Cllr Sara Muldowney said: "Chadwell residents approached us last year saying that they wanted to be able to get out and about on the Heath, and asked if they could have another bench so that those with mobility issues had somewhere to take a breather."

"In consultation with residents, I did an inventory of the benches on the Heath and found that there were none in the lower part of the Heath near the cemetery. Residents agreed that an additional bench at the bottom part of the Heath would be helpful and I worked with council officers to have a bench installed."

In November Nub News reported on the start of the tree planting programme in the ward, when its councillors, including Cllr Adam Carter, joined Council workers as cherry trees were being planted.

Cllr Carter has also been [L]https://www.facebook.com/102264202099876/posts/234162232243405/?d=n [L+] reflecting on the Heath and improvements on social media.

The trees planted along the path across the Heath were funded by the Local Authority Treescape Fund after a successful bid by the council's tree officer. At the suggestion of Chadwell Forum Committee member, Rob Lay, the Forum also made a successful bid for further trees for the Heath which will be going in later in the year."

And Cllr Muldowney has promised more improvements on the Heath, adding: "This year your Thurrock Labour councillors will be delivering on our promise for additional trees on the Heath.

"Cllr Chukwu and I are looking forward to work starting on the new playground on the Heath that we promised residents when we first becoming councillors."

Improvements to the Heath's play area are also in the offing, with Cllr Muldowney and her fellow Labour councillor Daniel Chukwu saying: "Over the last two years, we successfully campaigned for development money paid to the council to help fund a new playground.

Using this money, the Community Forum was able to bring forward a successful bid to the council's Community Environment Development Fund and work is due to start this year on a new, modern playground for the Heath.

At the suggestion of Chadwell Forum Committee member, Rob Lay, the Forum also made a successful bid for further trees for the Heath which will be going in later in the year."

"We have worked closely with officers from the Horticultural Team, Cleaning and Greening and Sports and Leisure to deliver these improvements and would like to thank officers for all their hard work."

"Special thanks go to Peter Saunders, Chair of the Community Forum for the many, many hours of hard work he has put into supporting all of these projects and to Sylvia Yates who wrote the successful bid for the playground."

"Most importantly, we would like to thank local residents for their willingness to come forward with suggestions, respond to consultations and flag up issues."