THURROCK Council's full meeting is to go ahead this evening, despite an afternoon of confusion.

Following last night's (Tuesday, 25 November) 'virtual' meeting of the council's standards and audit committee when more than half an hour of the meeting was held without officers or councillors realising that no sound was being broadcast it was suggested that tonight's full council meeting be called off because the council's technology cannot cope!

Thurrock Nub News understands that Mayor Cllr Terry Piccolo, who has the responsibility of managing the meeting, was concerned that technical problems would inhibit the democratic process.

He, and a number of other councillors, are understood to have asked that the meeting be postponed for a week as it will be able to be held in the chamber following the ending of lockdown.

However, apparently at the insistence of chief executive Lyn Carpenter, the meeting will go ahead.

That did not stop the council erroneously sending out emails to a number of councillors stating that the meeting was off. They were hastily recalled a couple of hours before the meeting was due to start.

You can watch the meeting live via this link .