News in Thurrock

THURROCK Council hosted a special ceremony today (Monday, 14 March) marking Commonwealth Day by flying a flag outside the civic offices in Grays.

The annual celebration of Commonwealth Day sees the United Kingdom join 53 other countries across the world, spanning Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Pacific, in recognising and honouring the values that the Commonwealth upholds.

NOMINATIONS for this year's Thurrock Education Awards have now opened, offering people across the borough the opportunity to recognise the work and achievements of those within education.

There are 11 award categories to choose from this year:

POLICE officers will be taking up station in Grays High Street on Thursday (17 March) in an exercise arranged for local people to meet with them and discuss issues.

It is part of an ongoing exercise to raise the profile of police on the borough's streets, which has seen a number of social media posts of officers on patrol in recent days.

ESSEX Police have again taken to social media to highlight the work of its town centre teams in Thurrock.

Publishing pictures of officers in Grays the force says: "Thurrock town centre team have been patrolling key locations across the district, where we have engaged with the public, conducted multiple stop searches and dealt with shoplifting as part of a week-long operation to make our streets safer.

A THURROCK hairstylist and beautician has completed her dream by opening up her own salon in Grays.

Borough mayor Cllr Sue Shinnick was on hand to formally open the The Honey Comb Grays.

THURROCK Labour group has issued details of ten of its candidates who will fight seats in the forthcoming Thurrock Council elections, due to take place on Thursday, 5 May.

Elections will take place in 16 local wards: Aveley & Uplands, Belhus, Chadwell St Mary, Grays Riverside, Grays Thurrock, Little Thurrock Blackshots, Little Thurrock Rectory, Ockendon, Orsett, South Chafford, Stanford East & Corringham Town, Stifford Clays, The Homesteads, Tilbury Riverside and Thurrock Park, Tilbury St Chads and West Thurrock & South Stifford.

MEMBERS of ethnic community groups recently attended a meeting in Grays and condemned the Russian attack on the Ukraine and pledged their solidarity with Ukrainians and those displaced by conflict.

West Thurrock Cllr Qaisar Abbas, who recently courted controversy after defecting to the Conservative group after learning he had been deselected by the local Labour group, and assistant secretary of Grays Mosque Joglur Rahman jointly organised the meeting.

RESIDENTS in homes close to the Orsett Cock roundabout have spoken of their frustration after weeks of inconvenience because of closed footpaths – which they say put pedestrians at significant risk of being hit by vehicles.

The works in the area are part of the realignment of the A1013 junction with the roundabout as part of the A13 widening project. It has been more than five weeks since fencing and signage was put up, directing walkers close to the Voujon restaurant adjacent to the roundabout to cross the very busy road, stepping out between road cones with no precautionary signs for drivers.

TRAFFIC is now starting to flow again and tailbacks are gradually reducing (3.45pm) but it is expected to be some time for congestion to clear after part of the M25 close to the Dartford crossing was closed at lunchtime today (Sunday, 13 March) because of what was described by National Highways as an infrastructure defect.

The clockwise carriageway was closed between J1B (Dartford) and J2 (for the A2) for a couple of hours before being reopened just after 3pm.

FOUR compassionate dads have returned to Thurrock this morning (Sunday, 13 March) after an extraordinary mercy mission that took them within a few miles of the Ukrainian border, close to the military training base at Yavoriv where at least 35 people were killed and 134 injured in an overnight missile attack.

Best friends John Green, Dean Hallissey, Mark McIlveney and Max Lazarou set out from Corringham last week with two jumbo vans packed with aid for refugees and Ukrainians who remain in the warn-torn country.