Thurrock Council set to debate debt following petition

MORE than 1,500 people have signed a petition calling for a public inquiry to be launched into the financial mismanagement that left Thurrock Council with a £1.4billion debt reports the Local Democracy Reporter.

The petition, presented by resident  Peter O’Rourke, will now have to be debated by the council as it has passed the 1,500 mark.

The petition calls on the council and the Secretary of State to “take all the necessary action to hold a full public inquiry into the financial collapse at Thurrock Council”.

It adds: “We further request that should the inquiry find any person guilty of negligence, the evidence gathered will be handed over to the police for criminal action, to be taken against them on behalf of the residents of Thurrock.”

A similar petition was presented by Gary Byrne, independent councillor for The Homesteads, at full council in September.

The council was forced to issue a s114 notice over its level of debt, effectively declaring it bankrupt.

A Best Value Inspection (BVI) by Government appointed commissioners from Essex County Council followed.

It concluded: “Thurrock Council has experienced repeated failures both in the delivery of its investment strategy, and in the delivery of major infrastructure and regeneration projects. These failures have resulted in the loss of substantial sums of public money.

“When initially faced with these failures, members and senior officers within the council have attempted to conceal bad news and avoid public scrutiny. This pattern of failure, and the nature of the Council’s response, has been enabled by dereliction in political and managerial leadership, inadequate governance arrangements and serious weaknesses in internal control.”

In response to last year’s petition, the council said: “The Best Value Inspection amounts to an independent inspection into the position and doing anything further at this stage would as a consequence add further costs for the council with no obvious benefit.”

Asked if he fears the latest petition would be similarly rejected, Mr Byrne said: “Surely they  must support the very people who elected them.”

The council is currently selling £1.035billion of investments to help pay down its debt. It says it is also generating over £100million of capital and hopes to save £18.2million from the revenue budget for next two years and a further £13.65million for each of the following three years.