News in Thurrock

TWO Thurrock men are among a number of drug criminals jailed after a successful operation by Essex Police closed down a major drugs line that 'polluted our communities'.

The investigation came out of Op Venetic – a major campaign involving the cracking of a bespoke encrypted global communication service, exclusively used by criminals who included Grays man and crime cartel leader Michael Read, 54, of Crouch Road, Grays.

A LITTER pick has been planned for a Thurrock community later this month.

It will take place in Purfleet-on-Thames on Saturday, 19 February and start at the Purfleet Care Centre car park at 10am, running until noon.

SUFFICIENT progress has been made by a previously poorly performing section of Thurrock Council's children's services that inspections and monitoring by the government watchdogs OFSTED and the Care Quality Commission can be scaled down.

That's the verdict of latest inspections that was announced today (Thursday, 10 February) which says the authority's Special Educational Needs (SEND) services have made "sufficient progress" and improvements across a number of key areas.

THURROCK Council's lead councillor for housing has announced that the authority is to demolish apartment tower blocks in Blackshots that have been blighted with mould and damp and other problems.

Speaking at this evening's meeting of the council's cabinet, Cllr Luke Spillman revealed that council house rents across the borough are to go up by 4.1 per cent in April, which will generate an additional annual income to the council of £1.845 million.

THURROCK Council has been criticised for organising a meeting for residents of a fire-hit tower block in a bid to engage with them and resolve problems.

However, the councillor officer who organised the meeting - nor any of his colleagues - failed to turn up for the first three hours of the proposed engagement session.

Southend 26, Thurrock 12

THURROCK travelled to Warner's Bridge on Saturday hoping to complete the double over their old rivals, having prevailed earlier in the season in a tight affair.

TWO brothers have been jailed after a vicious and bloody street attack in Tilbury that left a man with life-changing injuries and traumatised witnesses who saw it.

The brutal incident happened on 13 August last year and was carried out in view of children.

PLANS by Thurrock Council to scrap free school buses for children in the East Tilbury area look dead in the water after they were savaged by a cross party selection of councillors last night – but it could yet be that the authority will try to get them passed through a process of 'legal gymnastics'.

Thurrock Nub News has reported extensively on the issue after breaking the story last year and most recently highlighted the objections of and fears from St Clere's School in Stanford-le-Hope where 376 children from the village and surrounding rural area are educated.

PASSENGERS on c2c rail services have been overcharged following an error in an update to the computer system which controls ticket machines.

The company, which operates seven stations in Thurrock on its services between Southend and London Fenchurch Street has apologised for overcharging passengers since Saturday (5 February), saying an "error" led to incorrect data being loaded into its ticketing system causing some tickets to be more expensive than they should be.

THURROCK is bucking a national trend and showing an increase in car crimes.

A newly released survey from insurance comparison platform Quotezone has revealed that vehicle theft fell 13.6 per cent from 2020 to 2021 according to figures from more than 40 police forces across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.