YOU ALWAYS got the feeling that the (still) council leader endured rather than enjoyed campaigning. You get the feeling that John would rather be back at the civic offices and running the council.
Well, John has got his wish and after gaining overall control, he now has a two year run at steering the council through the double dip recession and so much more.
It was hardly a stunning victory. More a 1-0 victory against a lacklustre opposition, prone to scoring own goals.
How Labour did not win Ockendon is a moot point. (another great prediction-Ed). They do like a local candidate up there. You just wonder how Labour managed to lose. In 2008, they gained 35% of the vote; 2010 36%. In 2011, 41% of the vote and this year, 39%. That was quite a spike last year for Labour wasn’t it?
All we know is that all they are left with in Ockendon is Aaron Kiely, who was seen campaigning along with Lord Lucan, Amelia Earhart, Richey Edwards and Jimmy Hoffa. On a serious note, many believe that, regardless of the slim majority, he is on a final warning.
His first task will be to form a cabinet. There may well be changes as he looks to divide up some portfolios and may well bring in fresh and vibrant talent. Reliable hands such as Martin Healy and Steve Liddiard may come in whilst he may be tempted to find a role for Victoria Holloway and even recently elected Richard Speight.
He may feel the need to divide up the culture, leisure, crime, kitchen sink portfolio
There is no doubt that the partnership between the leader of the council and the chief executive, Graham Farrant has been a fruitful one. It helps that John is a full time politician but with the power comes a lot of responsibility over the next two years.
There are concerns in some quarters that the world of consultants and special assistants have all slowly crawled back into the infrastructure of Thurrock Council. Many have an eye on the Chief Executive’s Delivery Unit and how much that it costs? The obvious rebuff is to also assess how much it will save.
Representatives from the private sector and voluntary sector continue to bemoan the “five people turning up to do one persons job” culture that appears to permeate the council.
When it was announced in mid-April that we had entered into a double-dip recession, the BBC interviewed a representative from the Institute of Directors. He simply stressed that there still needs to be cuts centred on bloated public sector. If he is right, then there is clearly more challenges for Mr Farrant and Mr Kent.
Having said all that, what messrs Farrant and Kent have delivered over the last two years is much more of a Thurrock roadmap. You get the sense that they are both deeply committed to delivering the big projects such as DP World, Purfleet Pride, Lakeside to name but a few.
Both Graham Farrant and John Kent appear committed and proud of what has been and can be achieved. John Kent is also robust in his scrutiny of issues such as the Dartford Tolls, Junction 30, Lower Dartford Airport and Boris Island.
You get the feeling that the business meetings, the Let’s Talk series, the increasing interest from the BBC all add up to the promotion of brand Thurrock.
It will be interesting to see how the Morrison contract comes along. The end game for the “Shape up or ship out” should be the “terminates by mutual consent” but we will see.
With education, we will see how “partnership working” comes along. Many of the head-teachers of academies, raise an eye brow at that phrase and also wonder what a lot of the local education authority staff do all day.
You get the feeling that although Terry Hipsey has taken the heat out of planning, there are a few mines in the fields of Thurrock.
So many challenges and so many opportunities. To the Thurrock resident, of whom the vast majority did not vote, they want to live a life of minimal intrusion. The aim of an effective council is to deliver that.
Below is an interview with cllr Kent conducted just after the election results were returned.
Lets hope that Cllr Kent has learnt from his last tenure in the position and can start doing things for the local people, lets get this borough back to being a place that people will be proud of and not start selling the family silverware.
His cabinet needs to reflect everyone in the borough and not be filled with those who are only interested in the power and casting cheap political point scoring as we saw all last year, Thurrock Borough Council was fast becoming a joke that was becoming known outside the borough for their antics and lack of control of the borough.
Start listening to the constituents for once not pushing things through without any consultation, all we want is a local government that does not spin lies and deceit on every decision, as shown by the polls the vast majority of the voting public stuck two fingers up to all the candidates and decided that none of the above were worth putting into power.
He does look worse for wear, hard night I expect.
This article sounds like a Labour party political broadcast. Kent only mentions the tolls to bash the Tories with. His party were in power for 13 years and did nothing about the tolls and never intended to. Boris Island is yet another Tory basher. Let us not forget Boris won London. Hipsey taking the heat out of planning! What does that mean, approve everything and ignore the public’s views and desires yet again. Double dip recession! What do Labour want to do, borrow their way out of recession. Who’s going to lend them the money? This approach is going down a storm in Europe.
As for the comrade being a full time politician, you’d have to go back decades to find him doing anything else. He loves taking public money. What we’ll get is thousands more flats to house the Labour party’s mass immigration policies. Ever more crowded roads. Less jobs for local young people. Ever decreasing school places for local young children despite education budgets being increased by over 120% under Labour. Ever increasing waiting times at hospitals and doctors surgeries even though the NHS budget under Labour went up by over 120%. Labour have been a disaster for Thurrock and will continue to be. It is a run down dump. My wife moved here 10 years ago from the north west. She cannot believe the change that has occurred in Thurrock and Grays in particular and all for the worse. This article is most certainly Labour through rose tinted glasses and a few drinks thrown in I believe. How much is Farrant’s package a year, over £200k a year? I bet he’s over the moon to be working at Thurrock. And he still needs help to do his job.
Having moved to Thurrock over 15years ago I can agree with NoVoice that the area has fallen apart over that time, litter is strewn across the borough, Grays Town Centre is a shambles, yes i know that lakeside did not help that fact but the regeneration of the Town has been far too slow and it is now filled with Charity shops, Nail bars & Hairdressers.
What ever happened to te plans to radically change Grays Town Center? have these been shelved? during his last tenure Cllr Kent showed very little regard to the majority of public opinion I certainly hope that now he has been placed incharge of the council that he will start to listen, the whole cabinet needs to be reformed with people who are going to assist with turning this place around once and for all, this is a local problem not a national one so lets hope that all the political spin and point scoring is put to bed.
Thurrock needs Labour to provide:
Cleaner streets
More trees and open spaces
Less flats and houses
A cleaner A13 considering its the main route into and out of Thurrock
A Grays town centre revamp
Less crime
Better schools
More support for our small businesses
Less greenbelt development
I for one… am not holding my breath.
It was my misfortune to visit the dentist in Grays this morning,oh dear oh dear.As I came out with my wife we were met with a torrent of foul and obscene language from one of Grays’s finest a mother I assume shouting at the top of her voice at her son outside the Thameside Theatre.She was of course just the type of person the continued neglect of the Town Centre now attracts decent people the type we used to see 10 to 15 yeras ago are now in their minority.
The damage has been done over the years by both political parties and of course Lakeside, Grays will never be the same no matter how much money is spent the town centre now caters for the lowest common denominater as i witnessed today.
Yes PERMAN, just one of the reasons that I dislike modern Grays today too. But those kind of people are common to all areas of Britain today.
It only reflects the poor quality of education given to the masses in the past, which was planned as a matter of course.
I can remember a higher educationalist telling my wife that “society needs people to do the more mundane jobs in life, and well educated people wouldn’t be happy doing those for long”.