MP damns council for its financial failings - and not even her partner is spared the rod as she slams leading councillors for not doing their job.
Jackie Doyle-Price has delivered a scathing critique of local Tories' performance, including her partner Cllr Mark Coxshall.
THURROCK MP Jackie Doyle-Price has delivered a damning critique of Thurrock Council, its officers and particularly its leading councillors over the shocking state of its finances.
She does not spare the political rod, criticising fellow Conservatives - nor the domestic one as her long time partner, council leader Cllr Mark Coxshall, is very much in her firing line.
Cllr Coxshall, who works for Ms Doyle-Price as her part time constituency office manager (salary between £35,000.00 to £39,999.99), has been a longstanding member of the council and a leading spokesperson on local policies.
As portfolio for regeneration, and member of the council's general services committee, he has been right at the top tier of the local Tories' decision-making process over recent years. When council leader Rob Gledhill stood down in September, Cllr Coxshall took over in an interim capacity and was then elected leader in October.
Casting a critical eye at local leadership, Ms Doyle-Price says: "Cabinet members are there to give challenge to officers of the Council. They are not there to simply be their spokesmen. That is especially true of the Leader."
In a statement released today - Ms Doyle-Price's second commentary on the financial situation and failed 'borrow to invest policy' that has brought the council to the point where it is about to declare itself bankrupt - she says: "Thurrock Council has now come clean about the extent of the financial damage caused by the flawed investment strategy.
"As a Conservative I am utterly opposed to taking unnecessary risk with taxpayers' money. When I challenged the council on the wisdom of this strategy I was advised that it was bringing in revenue of £30m a year - £30m which would have had to be raised through council tax rises
"What we have now discovered is that the investments have lost £275m.
"Since the Government intervention there has been a forensic accounting exercise to establish how these losses materialised and who is responsible. The outcome of those investigations is due in January.
"What is very clear is that Thurrock Council embarked on a financial strategy it did not have the expertise to manage. And in that regard it took an unacceptable level of risk. Furthermore, it is clear that members failed to appreciate the risks associated with this strategy. It feels like some of them still do not.
"There were many warnings given to Thurrock Council over the last two and a half years. They were warned that the strategy breached prudential rules for the management of public finances by CIPFA. They were warned by Government Ministers that the strategy had an unacceptable level of risk. And they were warned by the NAO that the borrowing strategy was fraught with risk. In the end it was this that crystallised when councils refused to lend and Thurrock Council found itself in a Northern Rock situation.
"We now await the full assessment of how this situation developed unchecked. But there are clear issues of cultural behaviour at Thurrock Council which has allowed this situation to develop. Cabinet members are there to give challenge to officers of the Council. They are not there to simply be their spokesmen. That is especially true of the Leader. Whatever happens next these cultural issues must be addressed. The openness with which the Council is communicating regarding the financial position suggests they are.
Thurrock Council ordered to stop “all but essential spending”
The council’s Acting Director of Finance and Section 151 Officer has issued a “Section 114 Notice” to the council which indicates that the authority will not be able to deliver a balanced budget from within existing resources this year and into next.
A Section 114 Notice means the council has to stop all but the essential spending needed to provide vital services to residents, pay staff and meet its legal duties. The Notice follows publication of the council’s latest financial position earlier this month.
A special meeting of Full Council will take place on Monday 9 January 2023 to discuss the notice, the council’s response and the proposed plan to meet the financial challenge it faces.
Cllr Graham Snell, Cabinet Member for Finance, said: “The issuing of the S114 notice by our most senior financial officer has our full backing and is the next important procedural step in our journey to financial recovery.
“Among other things it will help pave the way for a formal request for additional bespoke financial assistance from the Government.”
Cllr Mark Coxshall, Leader of Thurrock Council, said: “Residents and staff should feel safe knowing that our streetlights are still shining, our roads are continuing to be gritted during bad weather, and our most vulnerable friends and family are being looked after.
“They can also be reassured that under my leadership we have started to grip our situation and have a clear sight of what needs to be done. The section 114 notice is a clear indication we are on the road to recovery.
“I have already made it clear as the incoming Leader that I have been shocked by the position the council is in and we do not take lightly the seriousness of the step we are being asked to take today
“I am proud to say that Thurrock is my home, and I will fight hard to do the right thing for local people and build a future for this council, however difficult that will be.”
A spokesperson for the Thurrock Commissioners said: “The issuing of a Section 114 notice is a necessary next step for Thurrock Council to take to address its overall financial position, alongside seeking further financial support from the Government.
“The Section 114 notice will limit non-essential spending, which is an important element contributing to the stabilising of the Council’s finances. Our work with Thurrock to address wider structural budget issues continues in tandem with work on their day-to-day spending.”
Thurrock Council’s “bankruptcy” inevitable says Labour leader.
The formal issuing of Thurrock Council’s Section 114 notice – the local government equivalent of bankruptcy was, sadly, inevitable says Thurrock Labour leader John Kent.
Cllr Kent said: “For years, we have been warning about the possible consequences of the Conservative’s disastrous financial mismanagement, but time and again we were laughed at, fobbed off and misled.
The suggestion that a Section 114 notice is somehow good news – “a clear indication that we are on the road to recovery” or merely a procedural step – is frankly insulting to the many council staff who will be fearing for their jobs, to vulnerable people fearing for the services they rely on and to all of us who will be paying the price for the Conservative’s disastrous financial mismanagement of Thurrock Council for decades to come.
The Leader of the Council claims he was “shocked” to learn of the scale of the financial catastrophe. That is just ridiculous. He has sat in the Cabinet for all of the last six and a half years – just what have he and his cronies been doing for all that time?
This disaster has been made and delivered by Thurrock Conservatives and it’s high time they accept responsibility for their actions and resign.
Another six figure salary on the wage bill as cash-strapped council brings in director to sort out failed bin collections.
Thurrock Council has added to its list of six-figure salaried staff by appointing an 'interim director' to support the authority's 'new waste strategy' and oversee improvements.
The news was announced by recently appointed council leader Cllr Mark Coxshall and takes the number of people earning more than £100,000 on the council's director list to 13.
This is at a time when the council has announced it is bankrupt!
Few details of the new post have been given and the council - and senior councillors, including Cllr Coxshall, have not responded to a request by Nub News for an explanation about why the new post is needed.
For the past year the council's waste collection service has been troubled - but the council instigated a 'reset' in October and after it the environment portfolio holder, Cllr Andrew Jefferies told residents that problems were resolved.
In a frank and detailed set of responses to councillors' questions, Cllr Jefferies conceded there had been major problems in the department - which is managed by Julie Rogers' whose salary package is in excess of £130,000 - saying it had had a shocking record of leadership and had not valued its front line workers enough.
Ms Rogers is the director of public realm and draws on the support of a number of assistant directors with responsibilities within her portfolio, all taking home salaries in excess of £90,000.
It also takes the total number of people at the council earning more than £50,000 a year to 260, above 11 per cent of a total workforce of around 2,200 people.
Another six figure salary on the wage bill as cash-strapped council brings in director to sort out failed bin collections.
Thurrock Council has added to its list of six-figure salaried staff by appointing an 'interim director' to support the authority's 'new waste strategy' and oversee improvements.
The news was announced by recently appointed council leader Cllr Mark Coxshall and takes the number of people earning more than £100,000 on the council's director list to 13.
This is at a time when the council has announced it is bankrupt!
Few details of the new post have been given and the council - and senior councillors, including Cllr Coxshall, have not responded to a request by Nub News for an explanation about why the new post is needed.
For the past year the council's waste collection service has been troubled - but the council instigated a 'reset' in October and after it the environment portfolio holder, Cllr Andrew Jefferies told residents that problems were resolved.
In a frank and detailed set of responses to councillors' questions, Cllr Jefferies conceded there had been major problems in the department - which is managed by Julie Rogers' whose salary package is in excess of £130,000 - saying it had had a shocking record of leadership and had not valued its front line workers enough.
Ms Rogers is the director of public realm and draws on the support of a number of assistant directors with responsibilities within her portfolio, all taking home salaries in excess of £90,000.
It also takes the total number of people at the council earning more than £50,000 a year to 260, above 11 per cent of a total workforce of around 2,200 people.
Do you know how many Directors and Assistant Directors work at Thurrock Council?
Worn out road markings at a bus stop have only been given a "ridiculous" partial re-paint, a councillor said.
Roadworks took place over the U, T and half of O of a faded "bus stop" marking on Newland Street in Witham, Essex.
Once resurfaced, the contractor was only obliged to reinstate the letters it dug up, the county council said.
Steve Hicks said he "couldn't believe" the result. Openreach said a partner carried out the work and it would discuss the painting with the council.
Mr Hicks, a Green Party councillor for Witham North, said: "Somebody rang me up about this half a job that had been done... so I went and had a look on Friday evening, and I couldn't believe it."
He said with the rest of the bus stop road markings heavily faded, the result was a very bright, newly painted "UTC".
"It's so loud - it just shows the inability for a district authority to send someone in and do a proper job," he said.
He described the end result as "ridiculous" and added: "The cost of sending a truck in to do that little tiny bit of painting... with a fuel crisis on... it's crazy."
Essex County Council's highways department said: "Government legislation states that when utility companies carry out works, they are only obliged to reinstate the surface... they have physically disrupted. This is why the lines in this location have only partially been repainted."
Openreach said the work was done by a partner installing infrastructure to upgrade the broadband network in the area.
"We understand that the works have been reinstated correctly. We'll pick this up with Essex County Council to see what can be done," a spokesman said.
New benches installed in a town centre were intentionally made to be sloping, a council said.
Some shoppers in the Norfolk market town of North Walsham have joked about the "wonky" nature of the seating.
Richard Kershaw, responsible for sustainable growth at North Norfolk District Council, said: "Some people have longer legs than others, some have shorter legs than others.
"I don't think people are going to slip off them."
He described the benches as built to last, "beautiful", if "a bit quirky".
The councillor explained the reason why some of the seats were level and others not was due to the town's uneven ground.
The wonky benches were thought to be a good compromise.
"We did look at making them [all] level. But it would actually involve digging too far down," he said.
"And it would be too low at one end and too high at the other end.
"So you can sit where you like, so you have choice."
Mr Kershaw said rumours spread on social media about people sliding off the benches was an "urban myth".
"I think you're looking at about seven degrees maximum slope," he said.
"You have to have a very slippy bottom [to slide off]."
So-expecting a massive (c.£200 million) handout from their mates in the Government.
The Tories have actually claimed that there is a "systemic weakness"-that would be idiots and crooks who were all elected Tories lending £500 million of their total budget of way less than that to a vanity project outside of Thurrock.
Asking for residents to pay the maximum 4.99% Council Tax increase, and asking Government to sanction higher increases.
Meanwhile, this Bankrupt Council has agreed to pay rises for all Council staff. Presumably including the Councillors who caused this mess.
If this was written as a TV farce, it would be rejected for being too unbelievable.
So-expecting a massive (c.£200 million) handout from their mates in the Government.
The Tories have actually claimed that there is a "systemic weakness"-that would be idiots and crooks who were all elected Tories lending £500 million of their total budget of way less than that to a vanity project outside of Thurrock.
Asking for residents to pay the maximum 4.99% Council Tax increase, and asking Government to sanction higher increases.
Meanwhile, this Bankrupt Council has agreed to pay rises for all Council staff. Presumably including the Councillors who caused this mess.
If this was written as a TV farce, it would be rejected for being too unbelievable.
I've just read about the pay rises it beggars belief given the circumstances.
So-expecting a massive (c.£200 million) handout from their mates in the Government.
The Tories have actually claimed that there is a "systemic weakness"-that would be idiots and crooks who were all elected Tories lending £500 million of their total budget of way less than that to a vanity project outside of Thurrock.
Asking for residents to pay the maximum 4.99% Council Tax increase, and asking Government to sanction higher increases.
Meanwhile, this Bankrupt Council has agreed to pay rises for all Council staff. Presumably including the Councillors who caused this mess.
If this was written as a TV farce, it would be rejected for being too unbelievable.
I've just read about the pay rises it beggars belief given the circumstances.
Comments
This whole thing is staggering. This is almost criminal negligence, surely?
Jackie Doyle-Price has delivered a scathing critique of local Tories' performance, including her partner Cllr Mark Coxshall.
THURROCK MP Jackie Doyle-Price has delivered a damning critique of Thurrock Council, its officers and particularly its leading councillors over the shocking state of its finances.
She does not spare the political rod, criticising fellow Conservatives - nor the domestic one as her long time partner, council leader Cllr Mark Coxshall, is very much in her firing line.
Cllr Coxshall, who works for Ms Doyle-Price as her part time constituency office manager (salary between £35,000.00 to £39,999.99), has been a longstanding member of the council and a leading spokesperson on local policies.
As portfolio for regeneration, and member of the council's general services committee, he has been right at the top tier of the local Tories' decision-making process over recent years. When council leader Rob Gledhill stood down in September, Cllr Coxshall took over in an interim capacity and was then elected leader in October.
Casting a critical eye at local leadership, Ms Doyle-Price says: "Cabinet members are there to give challenge to officers of the Council. They are not there to simply be their spokesmen. That is especially true of the Leader."
In a statement released today - Ms Doyle-Price's second commentary on the financial situation and failed 'borrow to invest policy' that has brought the council to the point where it is about to declare itself bankrupt - she says: "Thurrock Council has now come clean about the extent of the financial damage caused by the flawed investment strategy.
"As a Conservative I am utterly opposed to taking unnecessary risk with taxpayers' money. When I challenged the council on the wisdom of this strategy I was advised that it was bringing in revenue of £30m a year - £30m which would have had to be raised through council tax rises
"What we have now discovered is that the investments have lost £275m.
"Since the Government intervention there has been a forensic accounting exercise to establish how these losses materialised and who is responsible. The outcome of those investigations is due in January.
"What is very clear is that Thurrock Council embarked on a financial strategy it did not have the expertise to manage. And in that regard it took an unacceptable level of risk. Furthermore, it is clear that members failed to appreciate the risks associated with this strategy. It feels like some of them still do not.
"There were many warnings given to Thurrock Council over the last two and a half years. They were warned that the strategy breached prudential rules for the management of public finances by CIPFA. They were warned by Government Ministers that the strategy had an unacceptable level of risk. And they were warned by the NAO that the borrowing strategy was fraught with risk. In the end it was this that crystallised when councils refused to lend and Thurrock Council found itself in a Northern Rock situation.
"We now await the full assessment of how this situation developed unchecked. But there are clear issues of cultural behaviour at Thurrock Council which has allowed this situation to develop. Cabinet members are there to give challenge to officers of the Council. They are not there to simply be their spokesmen. That is especially true of the Leader. Whatever happens next these cultural issues must be addressed. The openness with which the Council is communicating regarding the financial position suggests they are.
The council’s Acting Director of Finance and Section 151 Officer has issued a “Section 114 Notice” to the council which indicates that the authority will not be able to deliver a balanced budget from within existing resources this year and into next.
A Section 114 Notice means the council has to stop all but the essential spending needed to provide vital services to residents, pay staff and meet its legal duties. The Notice follows publication of the council’s latest financial position earlier this month.
A special meeting of Full Council will take place on Monday 9 January 2023 to discuss the notice, the council’s response and the proposed plan to meet the financial challenge it faces.
Cllr Graham Snell, Cabinet Member for Finance, said: “The issuing of the S114 notice by our most senior financial officer has our full backing and is the next important procedural step in our journey to financial recovery.
“Among other things it will help pave the way for a formal request for additional bespoke financial assistance from the Government.”
Cllr Mark Coxshall, Leader of Thurrock Council, said: “Residents and staff should feel safe knowing that our streetlights are still shining, our roads are continuing to be gritted during bad weather, and our most vulnerable friends and family are being looked after.
“They can also be reassured that under my leadership we have started to grip our situation and have a clear sight of what needs to be done. The section 114 notice is a clear indication we are on the road to recovery.
“I have already made it clear as the incoming Leader that I have been shocked by the position the council is in and we do not take lightly the seriousness of the step we are being asked to take today
“I am proud to say that Thurrock is my home, and I will fight hard to do the right thing for local people and build a future for this council, however difficult that will be.”
A spokesperson for the Thurrock Commissioners said: “The issuing of a Section 114 notice is a necessary next step for Thurrock Council to take to address its overall financial position, alongside seeking further financial support from the Government.
“The Section 114 notice will limit non-essential spending, which is an important element contributing to the stabilising of the Council’s finances. Our work with Thurrock to address wider structural budget issues continues in tandem with work on their day-to-day spending.”
The formal issuing of Thurrock Council’s Section 114 notice – the local government equivalent of bankruptcy was, sadly, inevitable says Thurrock Labour leader John Kent.
Cllr Kent said: “For years, we have been warning about the possible consequences of the Conservative’s disastrous financial mismanagement, but time and again we were laughed at, fobbed off and misled.
The suggestion that a Section 114 notice is somehow good news – “a clear indication that we are on the road to recovery” or merely a procedural step – is frankly insulting to the many council staff who will be fearing for their jobs, to vulnerable people fearing for the services they rely on and to all of us who will be paying the price for the Conservative’s disastrous financial mismanagement of Thurrock Council for decades to come.
The Leader of the Council claims he was “shocked” to learn of the scale of the financial catastrophe. That is just ridiculous. He has sat in the Cabinet for all of the last six and a half years – just what have he and his cronies been doing for all that time?
This disaster has been made and delivered by Thurrock Conservatives and it’s high time they accept responsibility for their actions and resign.
"The section 114 notice is a clear indication we are on the road to recovery".
I suppose that's one way of looking at it.
givingtaking.Another six figure salary on the wage bill as cash-strapped council brings in director to sort out failed bin collections.
Thurrock Council has added to its list of six-figure salaried staff by appointing an 'interim director' to support the authority's 'new waste strategy' and oversee improvements.
The news was announced by recently appointed council leader Cllr Mark Coxshall and takes the number of people earning more than £100,000 on the council's director list to 13.
This is at a time when the council has announced it is bankrupt!
Few details of the new post have been given and the council - and senior councillors, including Cllr Coxshall, have not responded to a request by Nub News for an explanation about why the new post is needed.
For the past year the council's waste collection service has been troubled - but the council instigated a 'reset' in October and after it the environment portfolio holder, Cllr Andrew Jefferies told residents that problems were resolved.
In a frank and detailed set of responses to councillors' questions, Cllr Jefferies conceded there had been major problems in the department - which is managed by Julie Rogers' whose salary package is in excess of £130,000 - saying it had had a shocking record of leadership and had not valued its front line workers enough.
Ms Rogers is the director of public realm and draws on the support of a number of assistant directors with responsibilities within her portfolio, all taking home salaries in excess of £90,000.
It also takes the total number of people at the council earning more than £50,000 a year to 260, above 11 per cent of a total workforce of around 2,200 people.
Less than half of them
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-64453406
Worn out road markings at a bus stop have only been given a "ridiculous" partial re-paint, a councillor said.
Roadworks took place over the U, T and half of O of a faded "bus stop" marking on Newland Street in Witham, Essex.
Once resurfaced, the contractor was only obliged to reinstate the letters it dug up, the county council said.
Steve Hicks said he "couldn't believe" the result. Openreach said a partner carried out the work and it would discuss the painting with the council.
Mr Hicks, a Green Party councillor for Witham North, said: "Somebody rang me up about this half a job that had been done... so I went and had a look on Friday evening, and I couldn't believe it."
He said with the rest of the bus stop road markings heavily faded, the result was a very bright, newly painted "UTC".
"It's so loud - it just shows the inability for a district authority to send someone in and do a proper job," he said.
He described the end result as "ridiculous" and added: "The cost of sending a truck in to do that little tiny bit of painting... with a fuel crisis on... it's crazy."
Essex County Council's highways department said: "Government legislation states that when utility companies carry out works, they are only obliged to reinstate the surface... they have physically disrupted. This is why the lines in this location have only partially been repainted."
Openreach said the work was done by a partner installing infrastructure to upgrade the broadband network in the area.
"We understand that the works have been reinstated correctly. We'll pick this up with Essex County Council to see what can be done," a spokesman said.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4n812yxr99o?fbclid=IwAR2CZgSmdJDjzZJz-TLvjVjhvTgOD9LJ6w82I8JCxARkrK4P-5lsF33rbeU
New benches installed in a town centre were intentionally made to be sloping, a council said.
Some shoppers in the Norfolk market town of North Walsham have joked about the "wonky" nature of the seating.
Richard Kershaw, responsible for sustainable growth at North Norfolk District Council, said: "Some people have longer legs than others, some have shorter legs than others.
"I don't think people are going to slip off them."
He described the benches as built to last, "beautiful", if "a bit quirky".
The councillor explained the reason why some of the seats were level and others not was due to the town's uneven ground.
The wonky benches were thought to be a good compromise.
"We did look at making them [all] level. But it would actually involve digging too far down," he said.
"And it would be too low at one end and too high at the other end.
"So you can sit where you like, so you have choice."
Mr Kershaw said rumours spread on social media about people sliding off the benches was an "urban myth".
"I think you're looking at about seven degrees maximum slope," he said.
"You have to have a very slippy bottom [to slide off]."
So-expecting a massive (c.£200 million) handout from their mates in the Government.
The Tories have actually claimed that there is a "systemic weakness"-that would be idiots and crooks who were all elected Tories lending £500 million of their total budget of way less than that to a vanity project outside of Thurrock.
Asking for residents to pay the maximum 4.99% Council Tax increase, and asking Government to sanction higher increases.
Meanwhile, this Bankrupt Council has agreed to pay rises for all Council staff. Presumably including the Councillors who caused this mess.
If this was written as a TV farce, it would be rejected for being too unbelievable.