Councillor Halden made tribute to former member of Belhus, Councillor Graham Hamilton who had sadly passed.

The Mayoral Roll of Honour in its first month had seen nominations from communities, charities and business groups and had been thrilled that Thurrock’s hidden community treasurers were now being honoured and those names would be published in the September agenda, following the acceptance of their awards at an afternoon tea event arranged by the Mayor.

The Mayor recognised the work of the Cabinet Member of Communities, Councillor Abbas, who had ensured the mayoralty had been present for events with Hindu, Muslim, Bosnian, Pakistani and Nepalese communities.

The Mayor made members aware that Tilbury, Grays, West Thurrock, South Ockendon and East Tilbury were areas still seeing very low Covid vaccine rates and where the vaccination bus could visit.

The Mayor stated he had undertaken 58 engagements over the last 63 days.

The Leader made his tribute to former Councillor Hamilton in that he was an interesting man who had an active role in the community. He would be missed and a great loss to us all.

Councillor Snell also acknowledged former Councillor Hamilton as a lovely, friendly and trusting guy who was a kind individual and keen to get involved in the work of the council.

Councillor Allen echoed the comments made this evening and hoped that he was now resting in perfect peace.

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

Councillor Gledhill reiterated his thanks to the many council officers who had undertaken difficult and physical jobs in the extreme heat last week and thanked residents for their understanding that during this period the council had a duty of care to those officers which had meant it was not safe for some officers to carry on as normal. With some waste collections being missed the team continued to put in a tremendous effort and had carried out a great deal of extra work to catch up.

Councillor Gledhill stated as part of the Anti-Social Behaviour Week, he had joined members of the Housing Anti-Social Behaviour Team and Environmental Enforcement Officers as they patrolled known hot-spots and had a chance to see the teams in action and speak with residents about the ways in which they welcomed, appreciated the patrols and the work that was being undertaken in Thurrock. Councillor Gledhill thanked the work being undertaken by Essex Police and how the work being undertaken by Thurrock Police and Council had shown determination that working together could prevent dangerous and anti-social car meets that were blocking roads and creating misery for residents.

Councillor Gledhill stated that over the coming weeks, hundreds of potholes and other road surface defects would be fixed as the Velocity Jet-Patching programme returned to the borough for the second time in less than 12 months.

Councillor Gledhill was pleased to announce that with the start of school holidays there were a lot of summer activitiesgoing on in the borough for children and families.

The Leader stated the World Health organisation had declared Monkey Pox to be a global health emergency with the same status as Coronavirus and Polio. The first symptoms would be fever, headaches, muscle aches, chills and exhaustion or swollen glands, then followed by a rash which formed into blisters and advised anyone who had recently come into contact with or had any of these symptoms to call NHS 111.

Councillor Gledhill provided an update on Clean It, Cut It, Fill It that since April 2022:

·       Filled 749 potholes, more than 99% in agreed timeframes.

·       Cleared 582 fly-tips.

·       Removed over 630 tonnes of waste from our streets, parks and other public places.

·       Issued 879 fixed penalty notices for offences including littering, spitting and dropping cigarette ends.