THE FORMER Principal of Thurrock Adult Community College Diana Hale and the former Chair of the Board of Governors, John Kent are now the Portfolio Holder for Education and the Leader of the Council.
For them, one of the greatest challenges in the budget is to justify and/or manage the possible closure of the college and the resultant loss of jobs.
The figure in Appendix 3 of the “Cuts Document” os CEF 10 which refers to the loss of 43 jobs with a connected saving of £250,000.
Many staff fear that the possible commissioning of adult learning will be won by an outside body that will result in the loss of their jobs.
An on-line petition has illustrated the depth of feeling many people feel about the college.
Some look at the bulldozers at the New Recreation Ground, just across the way from the Richmond Road campus and wonder if their prime piece of real estate is also ear-marked for development.
We spoke to Chair of the Board of Governors, Mike Rawlings about the concerns regarding commissioning, the fight to keep it open, the history of the college and the viability of the college.
First the Thameside Theatre, then the closure of several parks and now the Adult Education College, soon Grays will be just another place full of houses with nothing for the local population to do, maybe this is Komrade Kents plan.
TBC state they are owed millions on non payment of Council Tax but have done absolutley jack all to reclaim this money and still they want to weald the knife on services across the borough to settle their debts, debts which the last Labour leadership put the borough into.
So we now have an public unelected leader with a hypocritical Mayor and portfolio holders who went back on all of whet they stood for did deals with the BNP to get themselves in power, this council is a mockery and the sooner that it is torn apart the better.
TBC should never be a unitary body as they have nobody fit enought to run it, this should now be wound up and placed back within Essex County Council before we are sold down the river by the current misfits and become another London Borough.
Oh dear what a calamity this public sector commissioning is turning out to be in Thurrock and South Essex. Health service commissioning saw a private provider win the Thurrock Health Centre contract instead of some strong local contenders because people leading that trust from outside perhaps wanted to make their mark and failed to recognise local strengths and opportunities to drive change.
South Essex College in Southend taking over the Thurrock and Basildon college by stealth…….all begun from the stance of commissioning choice and quality!
Now the possible demise of our Thurrock Community College through demantling by stealth in my view……… and it appears the council elected members and lay members of health are powerless to fight the machinery of the officials delivering draconian approaches to commissioning. Local services with local jobs filled with local people has to be a foundation for a thriving economic and social vibrancy for the borough. I am afraid we are on a road to nowhere and I fear it wont be recognised until its too late. County Council approach is not the answer I fear!
If they close the college, lots of the students will be left out in the cold. Certainly the Adults with Learning Disabilities, low level Literacy and Numeracy students and those who need survival English.
It saddens me that the 2 former protectors of the, College Cllr Diana Hale who was the Principal for many years and Cllr John Kent who was the Chair of the Board of governors are now looking to destroy the college and leave the low level and vulnerable students without a community college to go to.
As the article states, the land is worth alot of money and there may an ulterior motive by the Labour group to close the college and sell the land to fill some of the whole in their budget, something that Cllr Hale fought fiercely against when she was Principal.
What a shame for the people of Thurrock.