THURROCK Conservatives are asking for a full debate in Thurrock Council over a controversial housing development planned for the Thurrock College Woodview Campus.
Group Leader Cllr. Phil Anderson said “We were very concerned that the Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation’s Planning Committee approved the new learning campus without any serious debate of the issue.
“Now over 2000 local residents have submitted a petition to Thurrock Council, and this should automatically trigger a debate at a Full Council meeting. I have today received the agenda for the council meeting on 29th February, and no debate has been scheduled.
“I understand that there are legitimate concerns about holding debates on planning related matters, but I’m more concerned that democracy is not being seen to be done. There are persuasive arguments on both sides of this issue, and it’s vital for our credibility as elected representatives that we get to consider them in public”.
Not before time.
Well done cllr. Keep pushing.
Under the Thurrock Council petition scheme, petition on planning issues are classed as ‘exempt’ from triggering a debate at Full Council.
http://www.thurrock.gov.uk/democracy/content.php?page=petitions
I wonder which Councillors voted for Thurrock Council’s petition scheme and voted to make planning issues to be exempt?
You might also wonder which group were in power when the Grays North Masterplan was agreed a few years back and the idea of using the College site for additional housing was clearly marked.
If people had taken an interest in what was happening around them they could have been campaigning against this since then. Now it all seems a bit late.
And PA’s actions can be cast in the light of political opportunism.
Did i miss something? Is this Democracy week? Democracy must be seen to be done in one article then Drowning out Democracy in another. The only time democracy will be done is around May when we go to the ballot box. May the party that moans the least win!! At the moment the better of the two evils is clearly Labour?
I think some sort of mania has taken grip amongst the Conservative group of Councillors at Thurrock Council as for the past few months all they can do is issue a handful of press releases every month moaning, whinging and bitching.
Residents don’t want a bunch of moaning minnies running the council.
Where are you policies Conservative group? What will you do for the residents of the borough Cllr Anderson? There are just a few months until the next local elections. A few months for residents to decide who they want to run Thurrock Council but residents are mistified at exactly what the Conservative Party actually stands for anymore. All you have done is moan, moan and moan somemore but fail to articulate exactly what you would do for the borough.
As for Leader of the Conservative group Cllr Anderson demanding that “Democracy must be seen to be done” you are being disingenuous and deliberately misleading residents aren’t you.
On the 16th June 2010, you Councillor Anderson voted FOR the Thurrock Council Petition Scheme.
http://democracy.thurrock.gov.uk/CmisWebPublic/Binary.ashx?Document=15559
Don’t you bother to read what you voted for? Chapter 3.11 clearly states any issue relating to planning issues are exempt from the scheme. Here is the actually wording:-
‘3.11 In order not to duplicate procedures where established processes exist for communities to have their say, the following matters have been excluded from the scope of the petitions duty (see Local Authorities (Petitions)(England) Order 2010):
· any matter relating to a planning decision, including about a development plan document or the community infrastructure levy’
Chapter 4.1 indicates that the Leaders of both political group were consulted.
As Cllr Anderson appears to be suffering from some sort of amnesia here are the actual minutes of the Full Council meeting of the 26th June 2010.
http://democracy.thurrock.gov.uk/CmisWebPublic/Binary.ashx?Document=15711
As you can see he voted for Item 26 – Thurrock Council’s New Petition Scheme – all councillors, including Cllr Anderson, voted unanimously for the scheme and for excluding planning issues from the scope of the scheme.
So the above press release is all rather bizarre. He voted for petitions on planning issues to be exempt from council debates and then demands a debate on a petion about a planing issue.
a) He is either forgetful on what he voted for.
b) Didn’t bother to read what he voted for.
c) Being politically opurtunistic in an attempt to harvest the votes of Little Thurrock Blackshots residents.
One would have hoped that Cllr Anderson’s tax payer funded Political Assistant would have researched the issue before this non sensical press release was issued. All this has done has left egg on you face Cllr Anderson and exposed your political oppurtunism.
One wonders why you weren’t so vocal when no debate took place after the petition against the illegal lorry park in West Thurrock was handed in at the Full Council meeting? You and your Conservative group were very silent back then. No complaints of “Democracy must be seen to be done” by you or anyone else in the Conservative group was there?
And while we are talking about the Woodview site. Just to remind Cllr Anderson and the 2000 residents that signed the petition, Cllr Anderson and the entire Conservative group voted at the Full Council Meeting on the 21st December 2011 for Item 4 – Adoption of Thurrock Core Strategy and Policies for Management of Development, Development Plan Document.
http://democracy.thurrock.gov.uk/CmisWebPublic/Meeting.aspx?meetingID=2233
This document agreed on what sites around the borough would be released for housing. Cllr Anderson and the entire Conservative Group of Councillors voted FOR the Woodview site to be released for housing development.
Residents should be surprised to learn that the entire meeting to rubber stamp where to build 18,500 homes in Thurrock lasted a mere 24 minutes.
And now we have Cllr Anderson demanding a debate on one of the sites he voted to be developed on a petition that he voted should be exempt from council debates.
Our Councillors should be reminded on exactly what they have voted for and shouldn’t attempt to pull the wool over residents eyes.
Looks like the Micro light has run out of fuel so reverend Anderson needs something else to do.
Dave Peterson Tilbury highlights what is wrong with politics in Thurrock (and, I suspect, everywhere else). What on Earth is Cllr Anderson doing? He position is just untenable given his voting on this issue. As Dave says “…we have Cllr Anderson demanding a debate on one of the sites he voted to be developed on a petition that he voted should be exempt from council debates. ” Truly our Council is full of idiots. Can’t they all, just for a change, forget about Party politics and try running Thurrock for its residents? Which is what they were all elected to do.
I welcome a review of Thurrock College application for residents in Little Thurrock Rectory but as bloggers point out due review has taken place. The problems of information flow has again been raised and this time consultation affects an area of affluence but still out of the loop in terms of consultation information. Regardless of the demise of the Gateway consultation information flow has not changed. Most petitions against / for review start at the last minute as planning permission is about to be granted. I welcome a debate if possible on Thurrock College but hope that cross party / Council Management review of the planning consultation process takes place as soon as possible. This is not a good start for Thurrock Councilo taking over from Gateway. In the end all applications may end up with the Secretary of State if the Borough cannot get its act together. Do we need Unitary Thurrock?
Cllr Anderson has made these comments and yet he is a Member of Thurrock TGDC’s Board. He is fully apprised of the situation and is part of a Board that has always been supportive of the move of campus.
This is a blatant case of playing for the votes in the Woodveiw area and should be frowned upon. I never ceased to be amazed in the run up to election time.