In chairing his third meeting of the committee since taking over from controversial chair, Stuart St-Clair-Haslam, cllr Hipsey has been acclaimed for "taking the heat" out of the meetings.
Since then: councillors Lynn Carr, Garry Hague, Ben Maney, Amanda Wilton, Neil Rockcliffe, Barry Johnson, Amanda Arnold, Pauline Tolson have all pledged to return over £500 to the council coffers.
Or communities like Thurrock, where Police Community Support Officers and the local authority have worked with the community to organise ‘walkaround’ days. These have got agencies out into the heart of their local communities to listen to what concerns residents and affects their quality of life; do something positive about it; then feedback what’s been done. Nearly 13 tons of rubbish have been removed and 71 sites of graffiti have been cleared so far.
The voluntary, faith, and community sector will thrive when the support we offer looks less like a quango and more like ‘dragons den’; backing ideas based on their potential to deliver great value, innovative local services.
LITTLE THURROCK Councillor Rob Gledhill last night made a commitment to not only reduce his councillor allowance by 5% but also cease his £20 Broadband allowance.
Instead, council leader John Kent proposed the budget with £4 million worth of cuts. It was agreed upon, on the proviso that the Labour cabinet would go away and consider alternative savings proposed by the Tories. The Cabinet next meet on August 11th.
The principle would be that working-age housing benefit claimants who are living in a property that is too large for their household size will have their benefit capped.
THE FORMER Principal of Thurrock Adult Community College Diana Hale and the former Chair of the Board of Governors, John Kent are now the Portfolio Holder for Education and the Leader of the Council.
For them, one of the greatest challenges in the budget is to justify and/or manage the possible closure of the college and the resultant loss of jobs.
Cllr Anderson said: "I would not want to see politically correct projects take precedence at the risk of front line services....Have we looked hard enough at the Corporate Diversity Team?"
Council Leader John Kent has taken his Portfolio Holders on a steep learning curve. Their "hot-housing" has involved working very closely with the officers to try and make the cuts as "painless" as possible. The key concerns are front line services.
Congratulations has to go out to all those who organised the event. The Thurrock councillors led by Chair of the Steering Committee, Cllr Barry Johnson have dedicated so much time to the project. New Portfolio Holder for Culture, Cllr Lyn Worrall has been a breath of fresh air for all the cultural projects in the borough.
"The challenge ahead is to build on the advances made over the decades in the role and position of women in society to widen opportunities in education and employment for women and young people from all backgrounds and all countries so that they can fully realise their potential. ‘Society as a whole will benefit from the knowledge and skills that they have."
The Mayor of Thurrock got into election mood when she visited Year 10 students at Chafford Hundred Campus in Mayflower Road.
Last year, during Democracy...
