Services will be delivered, says debt-ridden Thurrock Council

The acting leader of a council which has debts of more than £1bn has promised to "make sure services" are still delivered.

A commissioner at Essex County Council was appointed by the government to oversee Thurrock Council's finances.

It follows concerns about Thurrock's "serious financial situation and its potential impact on local services".

A full council meeting was due to be held on Wednesday, but was cancelled because of "procedural" problems.

It would have been the first opportunity for opposition councillors to question the Conservative administration.

In a statement, Conservative acting leader Mark Coxshall, said: "I am working alongside everyone at Thurrock Council to make sure that services are delivered and we continue to make Thurrock the best it can be."

Work by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has already revealed that Thurrock owes large sums of money that it borrowed from other councils across the country.

The Bureau reported that the council helped pay for 32 solar farms in December 2017.

The former leader of the council, Rob Gledhill (Conservative), resigned on 2 September.

Greg Clark, who was the local government secretary at the time, said: "Given the serious financial situation at Thurrock Council and its potential impact on local services, I believe it is necessary for government to intervene."

On Friday, the authority said its chief executive, Lyn Carpenter, was "taking a period of leave".

It has refused to provide further details or say whether she will still be paid her annual salary of £200,000.

John Kent, the Labour leader of the opposition, said the meeting was cancelled because the council did not advertise it with the necessary five working days' notice.

"To borrow this amount of money, on a budget the size of Thurrock's, is risky to say the least," said Mr Kent.

"Services are already being affected.

"We are seeing arbitrary decisions made on home to school transport for kids, cuts in the grant that's given to voluntary groups locally and we see continued uncertainty over the Thameside Theatre and Thameside Theatre complex, so lofty claims that everything will work out are not borne out by what is happening on the ground."

Buckinghamshire Council, which claimed to have loaned Thurrock £10m, said it expected the money to be repaid by a deadline date of 6 January, 2023.

The finance chief at Derbyshire County Council, Peter Handford, said he has "absolutely no concerns" that Thurrock would repay £60m in loans.

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