Elected Members agreed to a refreshed Corporate and Improvement Plan this week (22 October 2025) at a meeting of the Full Council in Thurrock.
Following the publication of the council’s first Corporate Plan last year, which sets out the authority’s overarching priorities and objectives to residents and businesses, a refreshed update was overwhelmingly endorsed by councillors this week. The Leader of the Council promised a continued focus on getting better value for money and driving up efficiencies to help meet what will be challenging savings targets for the next financial year.
The Plan aligns with the most recent report to the Government from the team of Commissioners who have oversight of the council’s activities and finances. The Commissioner team have noted consistent progress during their time at Thurrock, but those moves forward need to be sustained with further improvements on costs, while at the same time, the authority engages positively with the expected changes to the local government landscape in Greater Essex as a result of local government reorganisation (LGR) and devolution, which will bring an elected Mayor with powers to drive economic growth and potential jobs for local people.
Cllr Lynn Worrall, Leader of Thurrock Council comments: “The purpose of this refreshed plan is to restate and refocus the council’s priorities and the outcomes to be achieved, as well as the action to be taken to secure them. This plan now incorporates the remaining aspects of the Improvement and Recovery Plan into one shared set of priorities and targeted outcomes, which is why we have renamed the document the Corporate and Improvement Plan.
“This single document means that we can be held to account for the decisions we make – and residents and others can see how we are doing on our improvement journey.
As part of the Plan – and in consultation with cross-party councillors – a set of key performance targets will be set to make sure services are delivering for the people that need and use them. These will be published once the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee (ONS) have had the chance to scrutinise them, later this autumn.
Cllr. Worrall continues: “We know that we have a huge challenge ahead to set a budget that is legal and balanced. This will be a tough round of budget decisions, which the Corporate and Improvement Plan will help guide. We want to get those decisions right – and welcome the scrutiny that will be provided as we work to get a budget agreed.
“We want to widen that engagement by involving local residents and stakeholders in our budget consultation, details of which will be announced shortly. We hope as wide a range of local people will help shape what we do as we strive to do better for Thurrock.”