The Mayor invited all those present to reflect on and remember Thurrock’s fallen of World War One.

The Mayor invited Members and members of the public to the “Best of Thurrock Variety Night” which would take place on the 16 November that promised to be a good display of the best of Thurrock.

The Mayor thanked the Thurrock artists for beautifying the Mayor’s parlour with their work which featured this month the work of Skylark Collective; he thanked the Well House Gallery for the display.

October had been universally marked as Black History Month, an occasion to mark the strength of community in diversity with 2017 marking 30 years of the United Kingdom celebrating the event. The Mayor attended the Black History Month reception at No 10 Downing Street and stated that it had been good to see the Prime Minister, Members of Parliament and Ministers mix with a wide variety of people representing the diversity of the United Kingdom.

Thurrock schools had celebrated the event with a memorable occasion at Thameside Library where parents, teachers and children from all backgrounds celebrated.  In a show of cooperation, six schools had worked together in conjunction with Learning Workz to mark the occasion. 

Councillor Bukky Okunade would like to invite Members to the “Ankara” event on Friday and for Members to contact her directly for tickets.

That the Thurrock Civic Awards 2018 was now open for nominations and the Mayor encouraged everyone to nominate someone who deserved to be recognised for the good that they did in the community and that nominations could be made online via the Council’s website until Monday 27 November with the winners being announced at the Awards Dinner in February.

The Mayor invited Councillor S Little to announce the launch of Give a Gift at Christmas. Councillor S Little stated that following the huge success last year the Give a Gift would run again this year starting on the 21 November until the 21 December and encouraged all Members, Officers and members of the public to donate some of their free time.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Gledhill, updated Members on the following:

Councillor Gledhill echoed the tribute made by Reverend Barlow to former Councillor Ken Barrett who had been an excellent Councillor, who had been extremely dedicated to helping residents and he would be sorely missed.

An update on Clean It, Cut It, Fill It showed that since April 2017, over 1000 tonnes of rubbish had been collected, 9200 acres of grass had been cut and 4100 potholes had been filled.

That the pilot of the Potholer Spotter had received an award at the Highways Awards for Best Use of New Technology and that Thurrock Council had been asked to speak at a national conference following Thurrock being recognised as the most improved local authority in highways maintenance by the National Highways and Transport Network.

Thurrock also received the Society for IT Professionals in the Public Sector 2017 Award for Citizen Engagement.

Lisa Holliday had been shortlisted for the Newly Qualified Adult Social Worker of the Year and the National Social Award.

Councillor Gledhill confirmed that the Fly Tipping in Alleyways Consultation was now open and available on the web-site until the 27 November.

That the expansion and improvement to Corringham Primary School will be made to support plans to increase their intake by 210 pupils.

The Council will continue to crackdown on business waste, unlicensed home and counterfeit tobacco and that 2800 fixed penalty notices had been issued since December 2016. Councillor Gledhill encouraged residents to stop dropping rubbish on the floor and to put it in the bin.

Councillor Gledhill stated that both the external cladding surveys and the comprehensive fire risk assessments have been completed and that the assessments had now moved onto the sheltered housing accommodation with all low rise blocks to follow. The fire risk notices and bulletins had been issued to all tower block residents but urged residents to have an emergency exit plan in place in the unlikely event of a fire.