DETAILS about Thurrock Council’s successful investment scheme, which since 2016 has raised more than £115 million to fund council services above statutory levels, have been made available on the council’s website.
Proposals are also set to go before the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee next week to update member oversight of the scheme as the investment approach winds down. Previously this has been done by Group Leaders and Deputies following a decision made at the inception of the strategy.
New proposals include creating an oversight committee and ensuring that all members that sit on it receive special training to allow them to fully scrutinise and oversee the investment scheme.
Cllr Shane Hebb, Cabinet Member for Finance, said: “The new webpages provide a more consolidated and accessible way for residents to read about how the investment approach has been carried out and why it has been as successful as it has been these past years – and how it helped us navigate the pressures of COVID-19 through it helping us increase reserves by 300%, from £8m to £24m.
“As well as raising over £115 million for additional services in Thurrock, other local authorities and public sector pension funds have also earned over £27m thanks to our innovative scheme. On top of that the solar part of the council’s portfolio generates enough green electricity to power every home in the borough twice over while making a carbon saving equivalent to taking 71,000 cars off the road for a year.
“By making this information more readily available in a more accessible format, as well as creating a new oversight committee, Thurrock Council is ensuring that, even as we wind the approach down, that information can be read by anyone interested in finding out more, and we will have further oversight of the approach”
The webpage can be viewed at: thurrock.gov.uk/finance
