To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Council, held on 27 January 2021.

The minutes of the meeting of Council held on the 27 January 2021 were approved as a correct record.

To receive additional items that the Mayor is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency, in accordance with Section 100B (4) (b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There were no urgent items of business.

To receive any declaration of interests from Members.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Mayor stated he still had not attended any functions or with any Thurrock faced groups or businesses which had been disappointing but still hoped by the end of his time as Mayor he would be able to visit some functions but unfortunately this was looking very unlikely.

The Mayor stated he continued to make donations to Thurrock based groups from his mayoral allowance.

As this was the last meeting for Councillor Piccolo, as Mayor, he thanked all Members for their services this year and wished those standing for re-election in May all the very best.

Councillor Gledhill, Leader of the Council, made the following announcements:

In regards to COVID he was sure everyone in the borough had wholeheartedly welcomed the Prime Minister's announcement that there were now clear plans in place which would see us move out of the current national lockdown to better enjoy greater freedoms as we went through the year. This was a welcome light at the end of the tunnel for all in our borough who had worked so hard to follow Government guidance and had successfully help lower the infection rates in Thurrock. The roadmap would see schools opening on the 8 March, non-essential shops, gyms and beer gardens opening on the 12 April, pubs and restaurants on the 17 May and hopefully everything back to as near to normal as we could expect on the 21 June. The Council had made tremendous strides in fighting, slowing and halting the spread of infection locally but it was important that we continued to so to see those huge reductions since December continue. Thurrock had moved away from being the highest infection rate in the country but the strain was still there for the NHS. It was crucial to still stay at home with the ‘Stay at Home’ order would still in place until the 29March, those who were clinically extremely vulnerable were being advised not to attend work, school or education until the 31 March. Now was the time to make sure that we were doubling down on our efforts in order to keep the proposals for the roadmap on track and to get back to getting the shops open once again and to get the high streets back and viable.

The national vaccination programme had been a huge success and although local figures were not yet available these were being pushed for every week. The overall vaccination rate of over 18 million people nationally with three quarters of a million of those having received their second dose.

The Leader provided a COVID figure update on the actual positive test results by age brackets between the 12 February and 18 February:

·         Under 18s – 31 (previous 7 days from 5 February to 11 February was 18)

·         18-49 years – 106 down from 126

·         50-59 years – 25 down from 47

·         60-69 years – 20 up from 14

·         Over 70s – 15 down from 18

With the local authority rank (where 1 was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 209.

In accordance with Chapter 2, Part 2 (Rule 14) of the Council’s Constitution.

There were no public questions received.

In accordance with Chapter 2, Part 2(Rule 14) of the Council’s Constitution.

The Mayor informed Members that in accordance with the Council’s petition scheme, no requisition of notice had been given to present a petition at the meeting.

Members received a report on the status of those petitions handed in at Council meetings and Council offices.

The Council are asked to agree any changes to the appointments made to committees and outside bodies, statutory and other panels, as requested by Group Leaders.

The Mayor enquired whether Group Leaders wished for any changes to be made to the appointments previously made by Committees and Outside Bodies, statutory and other panels.  

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Gledhill, informed the Chamber he had no changes to make.   

Councillor J Kent, Leader of the Labour Group, informed the Chamber he had no changes to make. 

Councillor Byrne, Leader of the Thurrock Independent Group informed the Chamber he had no changes to make.  

Councillors Massey and Allen informed the Chamber they had no changes to make.

Councillor Johnson introduced the report and sought the approval from Council to appoint to the permanent Assistant Director Housing Management. Following a robust search and selection process, General Services Committee interviewed on the 23 February 2021 with a recommendation to appoint Ewelina Sorbjan as the permanent Assistant Director Housing Management.  Councillor Johnson sincerely thanked Carol Hinvest for her services to Thurrock and wished her well in her new appointment.

Councillor Byrne questioned why higher paid appointments were still being replaced.

Councillor Massey and Councillor Allen echoed Councillor Johnson’s words and wished Carol Hinvest all the best for the future.

Councillor Gledhill echoed Councillor Johnson’s words and stated Carol Hinvest had been a great edition to the housing team and although all candidates had been of high class and this had been a difficult decision he welcomed Ewelina Sorbjan to the Council.

Councillor Redsell thanked Carol Hinvest for all her hard work and wished her well.

Councillor Coxshall stated it was really important and critical that this Assistant Director role was delivered.

Councillor Spillman thanked Carol Hinvest for all her hard work and had definitely left the department in a better shape than when she arrived at Thurrock Council. He wished her well in her new appointment and looked forward to working with the new appointment.

Councillor Worrall, as chair of the Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee, thanked Carol Hinvest for all her hard work and wished her well in her new appointment.

Councillor Johnson summed up by stating this was a vital assistant director appointment that needed to be filled by the most suitable candidate.

The Mayor called a vote on the recommendation to which this was carried.

RESOLVED

Approved in accordance with the Council’s Constitution the appointment of Ewelina Sorbjan as the permanent Assistant Director Housing Management

Councillor Huelin, Portfolio Holder for Central Services and Communities, presented the report which sought the approval of the Council’s Annual Pay Policy Statement. That Thurrock’s statement included a pay policy for all categories of employees which reflected the existing employment terms and conditions.

An amendment to recommendation 1.2 had been received from Councillor J Kent and seconded by Councillor Kerin, read:

In line with the Chancellor’s statement apply an increase of £250 to each pay point up to and including pay point 17 (top of band C).

Councillor J Kent stated he moved his amendment that removed the words “subject to reaching agreement with the Trade Unions on phase 2 of the pay review”from the substantive recommendation and saw this as a matter of fairness with the Council’s lowest paid workers deserving a pay rise now. That to link to the outcome of phase 2 of the pay review was not fair and was a threat to the lower paid workers. Some speculation had been seen from the impact of this pay review and Unite Trade Union had stated the documents shared with them had suggested front line workers could lose the equivalent to £3,500 a year and care workers could lose up to £8,000 a year. Councillor J Kent stated he had requested to see these documents but nothing had been shared with him. Councillor J Kent asked Councillor Huelin to explain how the £800,000 of reductions of allowances had been made up and which outdated allowances would go to make up the £800,000. Councillor J Kent also questioned how the portfolio holder could justify the £5.00 a week pay rise to lower paid workers but at the same time allowing an increase in the number of officers earning over £100,000 to rise from five in 2017/18 to 18 today and at the same time the increase in officers earning over £50,000 had risen from 119 to 176. Councillor J Kent concluded by stating this was an issue of fairness.

Councillor Byrne echoed Councillor J Kent’s comments and referred to the £250 flat rate and stated he had not known of any worker who would be happy to have their differentials eroded.

Councillor Allen also echoed Councillor J Kent’s comments and how the lower paid staff thoroughly deserved a pay rise and it was the lower paid staff salaries that should be addressed before the higher paid members of staff.

Councillor Halden stated the paper tabled this evening had stated they wished to pay lower paid workers more and there was no reason why an amicable agreement could not be reasonably made with the Trade Unions.

Councillor Muldowney stated her support for Councillor J Kent’s amendment and stated if Councillor Halden was confident that the unions would reach an agreement there was no reason to tie up the £250 increase with the Union agreement and stated this should just be done and not subject to any conditions. These were the people who had worked on the front line  ...  view the full minutes text for item 215.

Councillor Hebb, Portfolio Holder for Finance, presented the Capital Strategy report which set out the strategic framework underpinning capital expenditure and the associated financing of the Council and included the Treasury Management Strategy. The strategy continued to support the Council’s ambitions through the ongoing investments which created revenue returns which could be allocated to spending on the services for Thurrock residents. The report had set out the capital strategy for 2021/22, the proposed Prudential Indicators and set out the Capital and Treasury Management projections for 2021/22.

Councillor J Kent stated his support for this report and welcomed Councillor Hebb’s comments that the borrowing investment carried out was meant to be a means to an end to enable for some time for a secure and sustainable medium term financial future for the Council. This had given the opportunity for some to speculate with someone else’s money which had led the Council borrowing too much money and taking too many risks. Councillor J Kent welcomed the lower maximum borrowing limit by £350 million, welcomed there would be more transparency, more oversight in investment decisions and welcomed the Council would be concentrating on the borrowing of delivering key infrastructure.

Councillor Byrne echoed Councillor J Kent’s comments and stated his support in favour of this report.

Councillor Massey echoed the positive and good comments already made above.

Councillor Allen stated his support for the report.

Councillor Gledhill stated it was good that Members were unanimously in favour of the report and had agreed to move this forward to ensure the best for Thurrock.

Councillor Hebb thanked Members for their contributions and requested this item went to the vote. 

The Mayor called a vote on this item to which Members voted unanimously in favour

RESOLVED. That:

1.       Approved the Capital Strategy for 2021/22 including approval of the Annual Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) statement for 2021/22;

2.       Approved the adoption of the prudential indicators as set out in Appendix 1; and

3.       Noted the revised 2020/21 and 2021/22 Treasury Management projections as set out in Annex 1 paragraph 2.32.

The Mayor invited the Leader of the Council, Councillor Gledhill, to introduce the budget and advised he had 20 minutes to do so.

Councillor Gledhill

This financial year had been like no other for over a century, it had put a strain on the whole world, it had put a strain on this great nation, it had put a strain on Thurrock and had put a strain on every single resident within. Who would have thought it this time last year the nation would be coming to all but a stand still not once but three times, over 120,000 deaths of loved ones that were not expected, terms like PPE, epidemiology, pandemic all becoming day to day words, suddenly the whole nation having to come together and looking to our Government for support. They in turn, of course, looked to the NHS, to the care homes, the carers and indeed to local Government to deliver the billions of pounds of support this nation needed to see us through. That was whether you were a business, or whether you were a resident or indeed helping out the Council with the extra finances. From the day that restrictions and lockdown was announced Thurrock Council started to do all it could to help support residents. IT infrastructure rapidly upgraded to allow staff to work from home where possible to ensure that resident’s enquiries were still dealt with. Some people may say “so what about IT?” we have still managed to maintain a very good response times to our residents. Our residents were still contacting us on a daily basis in large numbers and indeed using our websites. This was indeed one of those things that had shown a step forward where we needed to. We made sure that PPE, which at the time was in short supply nationally was provided to private nursing homes, to carers and staff who had to visit residents in their homes to look after them. Staff came together to volunteer to help to put food parcels together with food that we purchased, the food that was made up volunteers and then distributed to residents in what was now the old category A where they needed them where they couldn’t get support from their close and loved ones, where they couldn’t get support from their neighbours or where they couldn’t get support from supermarkets delivering direct. Staff were working all hours every day to ensure businesses and residents got the support payments they needed as soon as humanly possible. Funding had to be found and allocated to support local bus companies to retain services. Funding to early years providers to meet business adaptation costs so the young could still receive help, support and education. Organising additional laptops and IT equipment for children to be able to connect to the internet and learn from home where possible. Taking in all the rough sleepers off the streets where they engaged with us. Something that we did quite well in Thurrock. Even  ...  view the full minutes text for item 217.

This item fell due to time limit of meeting being met.

In accordance with Chapter 2, Part 2 (Rule 14) of the Council’s Constitution.

This item fell due to time limit of meeting being met.

This item fell due to time limit of meeting being met.

This item fell due to time limit of meeting being met.

This item fell due to time limit of meeting being met.