THE WAR of words between a Thurrock Council Housing boss and UKIP MEP, Tim Aker has intensified with reports that Essex Police are now involved.
The war of words started when UKIP revealed that the portfolio holder for Housing, cllr Lynn Worrall had bought her house in Tilbury under the "Right to Buy" scheme.
The two councillors clashed in the council chamber.
A few days later, cllr Worrall was angry that details of the house purchase, with her home address was distributed to members of the media.
Cllr Worrall claimed that during that weekend, she received much criticism/abuse on social media about her actions and took the decision to block a large number of people on Twitter.
At the same time, UKIP had intensified their focus on the housing conditions that Thurrock Council residents were living in and whether they had been addressed by the council.
One such issue was the case of Mr and Mrs Zander of Seabrooke Rise in Grays. Cllr Worrall, along with a senior council officer, Kathryn Adedeji, agreed to attend to their house on Wednesday October 21st.
Cllr Worrall confirmed to YT that during the meeting a number of UKIP officials including cllr Aker turned up.
The next day, YT understands that cllr Aker and his team presented the acting chief executive of Thurrock Council with a tape recording of the meeting in Seabrooke Rise.
On being informed that her meeting had been taped, cllr Worrall has told YT that she has consulted the leader of Thurrock Council, cllr John Kent, the legal department of the council and has been in contact with Essex Police.
YT asked UKIP for their side of the story.
Cllr Tim Aker MEP said: "For three years Mr and Mrs Zander have been made endless promises by councillors and council officer that the leak in their property would be fixed. Despite these endless promises there has been a complete and utter failure by the council to act and solve this issue. We decided to record what was being said so if the councillor and officers yet again broke their promises to these residents then we had proof of this.
"On Wednesday (21st October) both Kathryn Adedeji and Cllr Lynn Worrall explicitly promised that someone would be there the next day to address the issue, to compound three years of suffering the appointment was cancelled the next morning at 09:30. We went to Thurrock Council the next day to address the issue and make sure that it would be sorted with urgency by the council as the suffering these residents have had to deal with for the last three years is unacceptable. I explained to the officers that Kathryn Adedeji and Lynn Worrall broke their promise but this was not shared with anyone.
"The Zander’s gave us permission to use the recording and were happy for us to go ahead with this and present it to the Council if it was needed.
"The treatment of the local residents in Thurrock is our number one priority, there has been systematic failures of those in the responsible positions and they should be held account for their failure to act. We believe the most vulnerable in our society should not be left to suffer in houses that are unfit for people to live in. If the officers and portfolio members had to live in these properties for just one night they could finally start to understand the suffering residents have to endure on a daily basis."
