Thurrock Council votes for 9.99% tax increase and budget cuts

Hundreds of people protested outside a council meeting as an effectively bankrupt authority rubber stamped a controversial 9.99% tax increase.

A full meeting of Thurrock Council in Essex, which has debts of about £1.5bn, voted to implement its 2023-24 budget, including £8m of cuts.

It was passed by the Conservatives despite opposition Labour and Independent councillors voting against.

The council leader said it would still have the lowest council tax in Essex.

The rise means the average Band D homeowner in Thurrock will pay £1,585.17 per year, up from £1,441.26 but the council insisted that was still 11.6% lower than areas of a similar size.

Conservative leader, Mark Coxshall, said :"It's still £200 cheaper than the rest of Essex and it's still nearly £400 cheaper than London.

"I think it's a moderate rise [as] over the last 10 years we've missed £54m from normal rises, we've missed over 13% of rises... and we just need to correct a wrong."

The council had been given government permission to increase council tax by up to 10%, twice the rate usually allowed.

It had been waiting to find out whether it would receive a £636m government bailout to help prop up next year's finances and the meeting was told that it had received a response earlier in the day.

The Conservative cabinet member for finance, councillor Graham Snell, said it had received a "minded to" letter from the Department of Levelling Up saying the government would be prepared to provide £452m for the financial year of 2022/23 and £180m for 2023-24, dependent on the proposed budget being passed.

Labour and Independent councillors voted against the increase because the extra 5% was levied after the government allowed a rise above the usual cap without the need for a public referendum.

The Labour group also opposed the proposed cuts with opposition leader John Kent saying the proposals lacked detail.

By Simon Dedman, BBC Essex political reporter

It was fraught and heated in the meeting and at the beginning a protest of about 300 people outside could be heard inside the council chamber.

Organised by the Save the Thameside campaign, it was calling for the local theatre complex not to be sold off and kept for the community.

Labour blamed the Conservatives for the mess, the Tories said Labour voted for the investments that had gone so wrong, but Labour councillors said they were never given the details.

There was heckling and laughter throughout from a packed public gallery.

After the meeting, Mr Coxshall said the heated evening was "democracy in action" which made him proud.

The local authority has an Essential Living Fund and promised to provide a hardship fund for residents struggling with the increase.

Thurrock's budget proposes raising £8m in savings, which includes plans; not to fill some job vacancies; withdraw subsidy for three bus routes; end non-statutory youth work and reduce street cleaning.

The council borrowed hundreds of millions, mainly from other authorities, to invest largely in financial bonds linked to solar energy farms.

The former chief finance officer Sean Clark, who was warned about "unprecedented" risks in 2018, has resigned.

A Best Value Inspection, by neighbouring Essex County Council and commissioned by government, to oversee financial decisions at Thurrock is expected to be published next week.

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