Annual Council

Today was the yearly Council meeting which in effect starts the municipal year.

It was also the day when the Mayor, Leader of Council and Cabinet get elected.

In most cases it is a ratification event since the majority party would generally form the administration and put forward their candidate as Leader etc.

However Thurrock is in that unique position of No Overall Control due to the decamp of Cllr Terry Hipsey to the Labour Party. It leaves the Council with:

23 Conservatives

23 Labour

2 Independents

1 BNP

So tonight was expected to be dramatic. As it is the local equivalent of a hung parliament.

It was however not too dramatic eventually:

Each party nominated their own Rep:

Mayor - Cllr Maurice Pearce (Conservative) vs Cllr Peter Maynard (Labour) with Cllr Pearce being elected

Deputy Mayor - Cllr Eddie Hardingham (Conservative) vs Cllr Andy Smith (Labour) with Cllr Hardingham elected

Leader of Council - Cllr Garry Hague (Conservative) vs Cllr John Kent (Labour) - Cllr Hague elected

After that everything else was smooth sailing.

So sorry for the disappointments for those who wanted drama, residents who voted for a Conservative administration have got what they want.

Its of course accrued interest from far and wide but then in my view, it turned out alright on the night - we will now continue working on the mandate you've given us to achieve more of these results:

• Inspection of Thurrock Council’s Adult Social Care by the Commission for Social Care Inspection has concluded that “good” personalised services are provided for older people and the authority's capacity to improve is ““very, very promising”.
• Thurrock Energy Partnership won a European Wide award for their work in Sustainable Energy.
• Thurrock Learning Campus commissioned on 19 March.
• The Royal Opera House project in Purfleet is on track
• The £ multi-million DP World contract in Thurrock is progressing ahead, due to bring up to 12,000 jobs to the community.
• Residents now benefit from the discounted charge at the Dartford bridge crossing.
• The Society of Information Technology Management has again rated Thurrock's website as in the top half of all UK Web sites. "Excellent site, well structured, clear, concise and citizen focused. A pleasure to use."
• Thurrock came joint first out of 460 Local Authority websites across UK.
• Thurrock was nominated for the national GO Skills Pledge Award.
• Thurrock secured £700,000 from the Dept for Health for the purchase and development of 2 houses and 2 cars for people with learning disabilities.
• Coalhouse Fort restoration is in progress, with £160,000 being paid for by partners, so only £40,000 of Council Tax money is going into the project.
• Government Departments praise for the Council's Library Service, Theatre and Cultural Forum.
• Thurrock Building Schools for the Future is bidding for £200m for the educational growth of the community.
• Weekly bin collection for waste and recycling - soon to include kitchen waste
  
• Roads being constantly repaired and maintained
• Partnership with the Police to provide PCSOs in the Community