A LEADING Thurrock Conservative councillor has expressed his delight at the speech made by the chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne at the party conference.
Cllr Shane Hebb said: "This is possibly the most exciting bit of news to complement and enhance Thurrock’s regeneration agenda for years. With Thurrock now being firmly open for business, we have – with projects like DP World, the Lakeside Basin expansion and the Tilbury Logistics Site development – a genuine opportunity to be self-reliant on sustainable incomes made by tax receipts in our own borders.
It appears that there will be no more government-designed redistribution of wealth, where we send money to government for them to send us back a share they think we deserve. What we earn, is what we will spend. The more business we attract: the more prosperous our borough will be.
Clearly there are LOTS more details to be understood and digested, but the right thing now is for Thurrock Council to get behind the idea, grab it with all its energy, and make this work.
The more vibrant and successful Thurrock becomes in future years, the better services the council can provide and retain.
And we have a genuine opportunity to finally reinvigorate our High Streets once more – Small Businesses need and deserve our help, and if the Chancellor’s statement is anything to go by, we will hopefully have the discretion to potentially reduce business rates for smaller businesses in Thurrock, and get people shopping local once more with a fresh injection of business investment in our local towns.
Thurrock Conservatives are really looking forward to engaging with this debate; so to be able to release the potential of the High Streets, and being able to say with conviction that we will make Thurrock ever-more competitive for new investment, and ultimately live within our means. The more money we earn, the more we get to spend on the right things. It’s just good old-fashioned housekeeping".
