THURROCK Conservative spokesperson for the environment Cllr Pauline Tolson is calling for answers over what action has been taken over the state of the A13 and the Tilbury dock approach road which fall under the responsibility of the Highways Agency.
Cllr Pauline Tolson said "For years now Conservative Councillors have been complaining about the state of the roads in Thurrock which fall under the Highways Agency responsibility. However, despite this little has been done to actually get them to act and get on with the job they are paid to do.
I wrote to them in January explaining that if they fail to clean up these roads I was willing to apply for a litter abatement order, I then received a reply on the 29 January 2015 saying the contractor had begun the clean up process.
"Only after this I am informed that the Labour Leader has had enough of the mess and a letter has been written to the Highways Agency and it is this that has prompted them to start work, something just doesn’t add up?"
Cllr Tolson added "I have asked the chair of the Cleaner, Greener, Safer Overview and Scrutiny Committee to invite the Highways Agency and their contractor, Connect Plus to our next meeting on 19 March 2015 to answer questions on their role and contract.
"I want to know why the work isn’t being done satisfactorily and how they intend to improve performance. Whilst the contractor began work the council then had to remove bags of rubbish left uncollected by Connect Plus. I know the intention is to invoice the contractor but frankly we should not have had to collect this rubbish too!"
"It is now time to get around the table and thrash out why this job isn’t being done properly and hold the contractor, the Highways Agency and the Labour-administration to account."
