News in Thurrock

THURROCK Council leader, Cllr Rob Gledhill has welcomed today's announcement by Prime Minister Boris Johnson outlining a roadmap to the end of Covid-19 lockdown.

Mr Johnson addressed Parliament this afternoon (Monday, 22 February) and will speak to the nation on TV this evening (approximately 7pm) and confirmed schools will be reopened next month - which will be a year since the UK went into the first national lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic - plus a raft of other scheduled measures.

AS expected children are set to be readmitted to borough schools next month.

Addressing Parliament this afternoon Prime Minister Boris Johnson outlined a four-step plan to release England from lockdown.

POLICE are appealing for information after a garage was broken into on Cedar Road, Chadwell St Mary and a BMW motorbike taken.

The incident happened at around 12am on Thursday, 11 February and police believe that three or four people may have been moving through gardens in the area before reaching the garages and taking the bike, which was later recovered.

THURROCK Council's Labour group have been charged with indulging in 'cheap and petty politics' by the authority's Conservative group leader after his members were asked to freeze this year's council tax to help families who are struggling to get by because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Conservative group plan to raise the tax by the maximum amount adding their own precept of 1.99 per cent to a three per cent rise to cover the cost of additional social care.

THURROCK'S ruling Conservative group chose to gloss over national-headline making losses and alleged dodgy deals as they approved a new financial strategy for the coming year.

At this week's meeting of the council's cabinet, finance portfolio holder Cllr Shane Hebb delivered an outline plan which will see the council reduce its approved borrowing levels over three years by more than £350 million.

TWENTY-two council homes have been handed over to residents after the final phase of Thurrock Council's Claudian Way development was completed.

The keys to the remaining council homes at Chadwell St Mary were handed over to Thurrock residents this month, as part of the council's £32million investment in new council homes for affordable rent for people on the borough's housing register.

RESIDENTS in East Tilbury village have asked Thurrock council to step up its monitoring and enforcement of safety measures because of their concerns over safety when accessing or leaving the village by foot and road.

The problem, they say, is mud and debris from lorries going to and from Walsh's East Tilbury landfill site which is not being prevented in the first instance and not cleaned up in the second.

A BUILDER is seeking a huge reduction in the amount he has to pay the local community after creating a new development of 18 homes - saying the sums worked out by Thurrock Council's consultants were wrong!

Tom Ingleton bought the site in East Tilbury from the applicants who were originally granted permission but now building has been completed, he is arguing he is being asked to pay a larger sum of section 106 money than the site merits.

RESIDENTS will get the chance this week to find out more about plans for a large solar energy farm proposed for the green belt close to Fobbing Marshes in the east of the borough.

Enso Energy, through its subsidiary company Rayleigh Green Limited, is proposing to develop a solar panel farm and battery storage facility which would generate up to 49.9MW for distribution to the national grid. This is equivalent to the annual electrical needs of approximately 17,079 family homes across Thurrock.

AN appeal has gone out across Thurrock, with particular urgency to people in Tilbury as a search is mounted for a dog that was stolen and then dumped.

Ajax was taken on Friday (19 February) from the garden of his home on Grange Road, Grays.