Thurrock Council: Paying the price for a bankrupt authority

Fewer buses, fewer youth services and fewer street cleaners are some of the bleak prospects facing Thurrock.

The Conservative-run unitary council in Essex, which has build up extraordinary debts of about £1.5bn, has listed a series of cost-saving measures in its proposed budget for 2023-24.

Residents are being asked to help rebalance the books.

The most significant demand of them all - a 10% increase on their council tax bills.

Father-of-two Victor, who lives in Thurrock but works as a librarian in east London, was using time off work on Monday to busk in the High Street in Grays.

"My family is struggling at the moment," said the 36-year-old.

"My little boy just recovered from cancer so having the extra council tax expenses on top of that will be a bit much."

He is also worried, along with comedian Russell Brand, about the future of the Thameside theatre complex, which his family use, and which the council previously proposed closing because of running costs.

"I don't think making ordinary people suffer is the right solution. Maybe the council or the government should tax businesses higher," he added.

Liz Hamburger, 31, a self-employed app designer from Grays, is worried she will need to put more money aside to support her mother, who recently retired.

She said: "My partner and I, we don't go out any more; we don't go to the pub; we don't go to Lakeside shopping centre; we won't waste money because we don't know if another increase is just around the corner."

Beryl Allchorne, a retired mother-of-two from Orsett, said: "I don't think we should have to pay for somebody else's error.

"I am very anti paying the increase. Other than go to prison, I don't want to pay it. I don't know what to do to be honest."

The council has also proposed withdrawing the £455,000 funding it provides for three bus routes in Thurrock: the numbers 11, 265 and 374.

Bill Hiron, managing director at Stephensons, which operates all three, said the services would be terminated without the subsidy.

"It would be a great shame. It would mean that parts of Thurrock will be cut off from the bus network," said Mr Hiron.

One of those places is the quaint medieval village of Horndon-on-the-Hill.

Residents Gillian Spice, 82, Sylvia Rayner, 81, and Betty Beaumont, 80, all use the number 11 on a weekly basis to go shopping in Basildon or Grays, and to get to Basildon or Orsett hospitals.

"I suppose we'd otherwise have to get taxis everywhere and that's not very easy - we'd just be cut off," said Ms Spice.

The council said the three routes carried a combined 89,040 passengers in 2019, most of whom were older or concessionary pass holders, and that the numbers dropped dramatically during the pandemic.

Colin Brown, of South Ockendon, says he will not vote Conservative again following the council's financial decisions.

"I think its disgusting," said the 73-year-old.

"The services are cut pretty bad around here as it.

"We don't see street cleaners and we don't see police walking around here and we pay for that too out of our council tax."

Loraine Downes, who also lives in South Ockendon and cannot work due to disability, said she doubted she could afford the increase in council tax.

"I'm not very happy about it, but it is what it is," she said.

Thurrock Council said there would be a hardship fund for residents struggling to pay the increase.

The local authority already has an Essential Living Fund and offers council tax discounts for anyone with disabilities.

The draft budget, which would need to be rubber-stumped at a full council meeting on 1 March, also proposes saving £126,000 by ending non-statutory funding for youth services.

The Walthamstow-based Red Balloon Foundation (RBF) said in the past year in Thurrock it delivered more than 250 hours of face-to-face youth work and engaged with more than 1,100 young people.

RBF does not receive council funding, but chief executive Luke Lowrie said he would expect to see a direct impact on young people.

The charity, which focuses on Tilbury, Grays and West Thurrock, typically approaches young people on the street, often inviting them for a football kickabout.

"Withdrawing youth services massively increases the vulnerability of being recruited by gangs," said Mr Lowrie.

Kevin Sadler is chief executive at the Ortu multi-academy trust in Thurrock, but was previously chief executive at the Gateway Learning Community, which worked on council-funded youth projects.

"These cuts, coming on the back of years and years of cuts, are going to further decimate opportunities for young people," he said.

"It's not just about stopping youth crime, it's about the more ambitious plan we have for our young people."

The council is expected to propose reorganising the way youth schemes are managed in the borough, which could include schools taking the lead on more projects.

The council has also proposed raising £250,000 by increasing fees that some people with disabilities pay for community care.

David Reynolds, from Stanford-le-Hope, has autism and has already been told he will pay 8% more for his weekly five hours of one-to-one support commissioned by the council.

The 31-year-old said: "I am fairly, dare I say, high functioning with my autism, but what about people who are more severe and need round-the-clock care, if it already costs a fortune for me relative to what I earn?

"They're the ones I lose sleep over."

Mr Reynolds is a co-director at Thurrock Lifestyle Solutions, a company providing home care and personal assistance to about 230 service users.

It is based in the Thameside complex and chief executive Neil Woodbridge said: "Some of these decisions [to increase care fees] may have been made prior to the budget, but there's a reality that it's made it more confusing for people."

Council leader Mark Coxshall has said the proposed budget presented "tough decisions".

"I have no doubt that this is the right thing to do if we are to recover from our financial position and put our budget on a sustainable footing," he said last week.

The leading Conservative cabinet members are due to discuss the budget proposals on Wednesday night.

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]