COUNCILLORS have agreed to the next stage on creating Thurrock’s first parish council.
On Wednesday (10 December) evening, members of Thurrock Council’s General Services Committee supported a plan for a second more detailed consultation on the proposal for the Frost Estate in Corringham after an earlier one came down overwhelmingly in favour of creating the new council.
The committee was told very nearly half (49.93 per cent) of the 715 registered voters in the area had responded to the consultation with 83.75 per cent of them in favour of a parish council.
The most popular reason was for the maintenance and repair of roads on the estate with “crime prevention measures” coming second.
Ten of the 11 streets on the estate are not adopted roads – with Lampits Hill Avenue the exception – but bringing the others up to adoptable standard, at full width and with pavements for example, was likely to be prohibitively expensive, however Thurrock Council engineers were examining other ways of improving the roads.
Leader of the Council and chair of the committee Cllr John Kent echoed the words of Corringham and Fobbing member, Cllr Mark Coxshall that the new consultation should include a “brutally honest” summary of potential costs.
These would be on top of the costs of running the council or any other responsibilities it took on and should be set out in simple language to be agreed by committee members.
The members were told the average parish council in a unitary authority area like Thurrock charged its households around £54 a year in council tax.
Cllr Kent also asked who would be responsible for the parish council’s liabilities and assets if it should cease to function and was told it would be Thurrock Council itself.
The committee agreed to hold the second consultation on “future governance arrangements” for the estate with a recommendation there should be a parish council of nine members.
A report would be brought to the March 2015 meeting of the full council for a final decision.
