Reply from Thurrock Council regarding the stealth rent increase

I got a reply from Michael Everest from Complaints and Information Governance at Thurrock Council regarding the ‘service charges’ being imposed on council tenants to cover the increase in council rents the Tory-led council wanted to impose but couldn’t due to the pledge by their Westminster brethren to reduce council rents by 1%.  Below is the full text of that e-mail:

Dear Mr Cook,

Thank you for your email. I can confirm that only the grounds maintenance aspect of the service charges has been suspended and the other charges will remain in place. All residents are being contacted to confirm this information and an appeals team has been set up to respond to anyone who wishes to query these charges or appeal the decision directly.

In regards to receiving a response directly from Cllr Gledhill, unfortunately as he receives a very large amount of correspondence this is often investigated by relevant officers within the council, who respond on his behalf.

Kind regards,

Michael Everest l Complaints and Information Governance Assistant I HR, OD & Transformation

And here’s my reply:

Dear Mr Everest,

Can you give me the contact details of the appeals team?

Regarding Cllr Gledhill - it is his policy and it is his defence of said policy so it is his responsibility to reply to my article as a publically elected official who should take personal responsibility for his ignoring his own party's pledge to reduce council rents.  His response is not just for myself but for all the council residents of Thurrock who are having their council rent increased at a time when his own party's 'government' pledged to reduce council rents by 1%.  As I will be posting any reply I get from him, as I have with your responses, on my blog which then has links posted on relevant websites, his personal response will get the public airing it deserves.  Please pass this onto Cllr Gledhill and tell him that I won't go away until he responds.

Regards,

Myles Cook

Letter to Thurrock Gazette - Tory behaviour in council meeting

Here’s the full text of my letter to the Thurrock Gazette regarding last night’s council meeting:

Cllr Coxshall used expletives in the council meeting on 27th September and not for the first time.  The repeated use of this kind of language shows his contempt towards his duly elected colleagues.  He should have been ejected from the Council Chamber and Cllr Gledhill, Council Leader and Mr Coxshall's superior within the Thurrock Tories, should have been instructed to suspend Mr Coxshall for a specified number of months by the Mayor.

This, of course, didn't happen.  The Mayor is a Tory so Mr Coxshall was asked to apologise and the matter was dropped, an apology that was as insincere as the Mayor’s admonishment was.

It seems, given the other incidents that occurred that night when another Tory councillor shouted at an attendee from the public and yet another Tory councillor showed contempt towards the audience in the public gallery, that the Tories are nothing but yobs enabled by Tory Mayor to get away with whatever behaviour they wish and bringing yet more discredit to their elected offices.

At one point I had a good deal of goodwill towards Mayor Ojetola because of his stance on some issues.  Given his performance last night, I now have none.

If it gets published I’ll post the printed version here on this blog.

Letter from Thurrock Council regarding the ‘service charge’ loophole rent increase

I received an e-mail from Thurrock Council in response to my e-mail/article I sent regarding the ‘service charges’ being levied on council residents in lieu of an overt council rent increase in flagrant disregard of their own Westminster brethren’s pledge to reduce council rents by 1%.  Below is the full text of that e-mail:

Dear Mr Cook,

Thank you for your recent enquiry about the grounds maintenance service charge.

As you may be aware this charge has been temporarily suspended pending a further review so will not take effect on October 2nd. At the end of the review the Council will decide whether to apply the charge and if so how much it will be and who will be liable.

All tenants are being written to individually with this information.  

Please contact me if you require any more information at this stage

Kind regards,

Michael Everest l Complaints and Information Governance Assistant I HR, OD & Transformation

And here’s the full text of my reply:

Dear Mr Everest,

Actually I think you’ll find that my covered all the ‘service charges’ the council wishes to increase the rent by so you’re factually inaccurate in your e-mail in the very first line.

Regarding the rest of your missive – the ‘Grass Tax’ may be suspended for a while but does that include all of the charges or not?  The whole debate around the ‘service charges’ seems to be dominated by the ‘Grounds Maintenance Charge’ (AKA ‘Grass Tax’) but seems to conveniently ignore the rest of the charges that are being levied on certain council residents.  Are they going to be suspended or not?

Also, my original e-mail asked for a response from Mr Gledhill to the article that I had attached to that e-mail.  I have received no such response.  As the suspension of the ‘Grass Tax’ does not, it seems, cover the other ‘service charges’ – the ‘Access Tax’ (AKA ‘Lift Maintenance Charge’), the ‘Safety Tax’ (AKA ‘Communal Lighting Charge’) and the ‘Security Tax’ (AKA Secure Door Entry Charge’) – Mr Gledhill still has to make a public announcement regarding these ‘service charges’ and still owes me a personal response to my original e-mail.

I expect his response very soon.

Regards,

Myles Cook

I shall, as always, post any replies I get.