Thurrock Council
Type
Type	Unitary authority
History
Founded	1 April 1974
Leadership
Mayor of Thurrock	James Halden since 26 May 2022
Leader of the Council	Rob Gledhill, Conservative since 25 May 2016
Chief executive	Lyn Carpenter since September 2015
Structure
Seats	49 councillors
Political groups	Administration   Conservative (30) Other parties   Labour (14)   Thurrock Independent (3)   Independent (2)
Length of term	4 years
Elections
Voting system	First past the post
Last election	5 May 2022
Motto
Secundum Tamesim Quovis Gentium
Meeting place
Civic Offices, New Road, Grays
Website
www.thurrock.gov.uk
Constitution
Constitution

Thurrock Council is the local council for the borough of Thurrock in Essex, England. Since 1997, Thurrock has been a unitary authority, combining the functions of a non-metropolitan county with that of a non-metropolitan district. The other such authority in Essex is Southend-on-Sea. It is a member of the East of England Local Government Association.

History

Thurrock District Council was first elected in 1973, a year before formally coming into its powers and prior to the creation of the Thurrock District on 1 April 1974. It replaced Thurrock Urban District Council, which governed a slightly larger area including part of Basildon New Town and had been formed in 1936 as an amalgamation of Grays Thurrock Urban District Council, Purfleet Urban District Council, Tilbury Urban District Council, and Orsett Rural District Council including associated parish councils; a result of the Local Government Act 1929. The council received borough status, permitting the council to be known as Thurrock Borough Council. Until 1998 it was constituted as non-metropolitan district council in a two-tier arrangement, sharing service provision with Essex County Council.^[1]

As a result of the 1992 Local Government Commission for England on 1 April 1998 Thurrock absorbed the powers of Essex County Council for its area, becoming a unitary authority. The planning function for large developments was exercised by the Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation in the whole of the borough from 2003 to 2012. The development corporation was absorbed by the council on 1 April 2012.^{[citation needed]}

Election results and council control

For most of the council's history, it has been controlled by Labour, including from 1982 to 2004 and again from 2010 to 2015. Since 2016 the council has been under no overall control, but with a Conservative leader, Rob Gledhill.^[2][3]

Historic political control is shown alongside the historic election results.

Composition

Thurrock is divided into 20 wards and elects 49 councillors. One-third of the council is elected every year on a four-year term and so every fourth year there is no election. Councillors are elected through first-past-the-post voting. There are 19 committees, including:^[4]

• Cabinet
• Corporate parenting
• General services
• Health and wellbeing board
• Licensing
• Planning
• Standards and audit
• Corporate Scrutiny
• Cleaner, Greener and Safer Scrutiny
• Children's Services Scrutiny
• Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny
• Housing Scrutiny

Electoral wards

The borough's 20 electoral wards and corresponding representatives are:^[5][6]

Electoral ward		Year of election
No.	Name	2016		2018		2019
1	Aveley and Uplands		Luke Spillman (TI)[a]		Tim Aker (TI)[a]		Colin Churchman (Con)
2	Ockendon		David Potter (TI)[a]		Sue Shinnick (Lab)		Andrew Jefferies (Con)
3	Belhus		Angela Lawrence (Con)[b]		Mike Fletcher (Lab)		Chris Baker (TI)[a]
4	West Thurrock and South Stifford		Oliver Gerrish (Lab)		Qaisar Abbas (Lab)		Victoria Holloway (Lab)
5	South Chafford		Suzanne MacPherson (Con)		Abbie Akinbohun (Lab)	—
6	Chafford and North Stifford		Garry Hague (Con)	—			Mark Coxshall (Con)
7	Grays Riverside		Tony Fish (Lab)		Martin Kerin (Lab)		Jane Pothecary (Lab)
8	Grays Thurrock		John Kent (Lab)		Lynn Worrall (Lab)		Cathy Kent (Lab)
9	Stifford Clays	—			Elizabeth Rigby (Con)		Jennifer Smith (TI)[a]
10	Little Thurrock Blackshots		Jocelyn Redsell (Con)		Ben Maney (Con)	—
11	Little Thurrock Rectory	—			Rob Gledhill (Con)		Tom Kelly (Con)
12	Tilbury Riverside and Thurrock Park	—			Bukky Okunade (Lab)		Allen Mayes (TI)[a]
13	Tilbury St. Chads		John Allen (TI)[a]		Steve Liddiard (Lab)	—
14	Chadwell St. Mary		Gerard Rice (Lab)		Barbara Rice (Lab)		Daniel Chukwu (Lab)
15	East Tilbury		Sue Sammons (Con)[b]	—			Fraser Massey (Ind)
16	Stanford-Le-Hope West		Terry Piccolo (Con)	—			Shane Hebb (Con)
17	Corringham and Fobbing		Aaron Watkins (Con)	—			Deborah Huelin (Con)
18	Stanford East and Corringham Town		Jack Duffin (TI)[a]		Alex Anderson (Con)		Shane Ralph (TI)[a]
19	The Homesteads		Gary Collins (Con)		James Halden (Con)		Gary Byrne (TI)[a]
20	Orsett		Susan Little (Con)		Barry Johnson (Con)	—

Mayors and leaders

John Kent; former leader of the council (2010–2016) and current leader of the Labour opposition

Thurrock Council has a leader, mayor and chief executive. The leader of the council is also typically the leader of its largest party. They are scrutinised by the leader of the opposition, who typically leads the council's largest non-governing party.

The current leader is Conservative councillor Rob Gledhill, who has been in office since 2016, while the current leader of the opposition is Labour Group leader John Kent. Kent was previously the leader of the council from 2010 to 2016, when he stood down after his party's loss in the 2016 council election. He remained leader of the Labour Group until his parliamentary candidacy in the 2017 general election,^[7] returning after his successor Oliver Gerrish's resignation in August 2018.^[8] He left his post after again standing for election to parliament in 2019 but returned after his successor Jane Pothecary resigned from the leadership in 2020.^[9][10] From 2016 to 2018, the leader of the opposition was UKIP Group and then Thurrock Independent Group leader Graham Snell,^[11][12] who was de-seated^[13] and lost the opposition leadership to Labour's Oliver Gerrish after the 2018 council election.

The mayor acts as the council's chairman and undertakes ceremonial duties. They usually serve for a one-year term, with a new mayor being elected by councillors in an annual council session.^[14] Although rare, mayors have served for a longer period, such as when Mayor Yash Gupta served from 2011 to 2013.^[15][16] The current mayor is Conservative councillor James Halden, who is the first homosexual to serve in this position. He was sworn in on 26 May 2022.^[17] The first mayor in Thurrock was Margaret Jones who served from 1974^[18] and the first Black mayor was Tunde Ojetola who served from 2017 to 2018.^[19]

Historic leaders and mayors are recorded with the historic election results.

Arms

Coat of arms of Thurrock Council

Notes Shield and crest originally granted to Thurrock Urban District Council on 17 January 1957. Supporters granted on 14 May 1976. Crest On a wreath of the colours an Albatross rising Proper from a bollard Sable roped Or. Escutcheon Argent on a fess wavy between in chief a ship's screw and a wheel Azure and in base a Celtic cross also Azure charged in the centre with a Tudor rose Proper three lymphads Argent. Supporters On the dexter a sea-lion guardant Or gutty Sable the tail Vert gutty Or and Argent holding in the dexter claw a block Or tackle Sable and on the sinister a knight in armour tempus 1370 resting the exterior hand on the hilt of his sheathed sword a hound at his feet all Proper upon a compartment per pale water barry wavy Argent and Azure and a representation of a stone quay Proper. Motto Secundum Tamesim Quovis Gentium (By The Thames To All The Peoples Of The World).[20]