Nominations were invited for the election of the Leader of the Council.

It was proposed by Councillor Gledhill, and seconded by Councillor Jefferies, that Councillor M Coxshall be elected as Leader of the Council.

Members voted 29 in favour and 10 against, therefore Councillor M Coxshall was elected as Leader of the Council.

The Mayor then invited Councillor M Coxshall to make any announcements he wished to make as Leader of the Council:

Councillor M Coxshall made thanks to the former Leader, Councillor Gledhill, whilst doing the honourable thing of stepping down he would be remembered for the launch of Clean It, Cut It, Fill It, who had won awards for Thurrock and had given the borough optimism.

Councillor M Coxshall stated that he had accepted the leadership of the Council as he believed in Thurrock’s greatness to make good decisions from now onwards and be a Leader for all 49 councillors with the aim to have greater democratic accountability as part of his new administration.

Councillor M Coxshall stated that a few years ago, councillors had approved an investment plan to try and avoid cuts to public services and this approach had worked for some time. However, concerns had been raised about the approach and the reassurances given to Cabinet now appear to have been wrong. There had been warnings that local government was broken with an out-of-date funding model with too much power withheld from elected members and the reasons for this not working would come to light during the best value inspection. Councillor M Coxshall stated the council was in great difficulty and this now had to be put right and would do his best with the help of all members to put this right. That new deep and meaningful reform to local government was required but for now action needed to be taken differently with partners in Thurrock. There would now be a new era of openness, transparency, and honesty by defending the council’s status as a unitary council and seek to be a leader for all 49 elected councillors. Councillor M Coxshall stated he would end the practice of councillors having to take questions in advance to Cabinet and from now on any councillor may come to Cabinet to debate and question items on the Cabinet agenda. He also confirmed that he would make himself more available for press briefing and would provide monthly cabinet media briefings and that he would look to reform our system of overview and scrutiny and for the Improvement Plan to be published and subject to full council debate and vote. There would be better access and dialogue between members and officers.

Councillor M Coxshall welcomed the approach of the Acting Chief Executive and his senior team. He also welcomed the support from HMG and Essex County Council where the commissioners were in charge. The focus would be to protect three core services, bin collections, street lighting and grass cutting with the need to protect our services for our constituents. He had invited leaders of the opposition parties to join him in assisting the Acting Chief Executive to help build a recovery plan with the first meeting of the Finance Recovery Board already having taken place this week.

Councillor M Coxshall stated in regard to the debt levels, work was ongoing, and he would report back.

Councillor M Coxshall concluded that although he could not put right the wrong doings of previous leaders and administrations over the last 20 years, he believed and desired that all 49 councillors worked together to shape the future. He was ready to work with all members with a new chamber, new leader and a new start.

RESOLVED

That Councillor M Coxshall be duly elected as Leader of the Council for a four-year term of office.