UPDATE: In a victory for residents, councillors in Thurrock agree to write to Michael Gove to ask for a public inquiry into the financial collapse of the council The decision follows a petition, signed by 2,500 residents, calling for a public inquiry into the scandal which resulted in the bankruptcy of the local authority following a series of secretive and ultimately ruinous investments

Thousands of residents in Thurrock are demanding a public inquiry into the financial collapse of the council, with the issue due to be voted on by councillors at a meeting tonight.

A thread on the fight back against years of secrecy and incompetence Thurrock's investment scandal, uncovered by @TBIJ, has left the council bankrupt, taxes increased and the prospect of years of services cuts, to the point where the authority faces being "equipped to do little more than the statutory minimum for the foreseeable future"

BREAKING: Government publishes long-awaited findings of inspection into financial collapse of Thurrock Council. Inspectors find "serious mistakes have been made by individuals" and a "self-sustaining, systemic weaknesses which have allowed for repeated failure over many years" I'm currently making my way through the report and will post key findings as I do. I'll then post some analysis in a different thread once I've considered it in full

I understand the findings of the 'Best Value Inspection' into the collapse of Thurrock Council will be published today.

As a reminder, here's how one of the largest financial scandals in local government history unfolded thebureauinvestigates.com/explainers/why… Several sources have told me the council has been told to expect the report, which was initially due in January, to be released today. The councillors I've spoken to have not been given advance viewing

Today three local authorities, beset by huge financial problems entirely of their own making, have been given permission to hike council tax far beyond the usual limits.

How can it be right that residents of Thurrock, Croydon and Slough will pay the price for these scandals? For those unaware, since 12/13 local authorities have been required to hold a referendum on "excessive" council tax increases. Since 16/17 the threshold has been 4.99% for those councils with responsibility for social care

Thurrock has failed to publish its draft 23/24 budget this afternoon as planned.

The documents will include key info about how local people will be affected by an unprecedented crisis.

I'm told size of proposed c. tax hike among details Conservative members unable to agree on. As reported earlier this month, Thurrock's financial recovery plans include imposing a drastic increase in council tax by asking the government for permission to increase rates above the 5% limit which would usually require a local referendum garethdavies-41743.medium.com/tory-council-s…

Commissioners from Essex County Council are set to be given extra control over crisis-hit Thurrock Council due to the “unprecedented scale and complexity” of the challenge caused by its disastrous investment policy The commissioners wrote to @LUHC twice in December to update the Secretary of State on the two focuses of its work - the financial intervention and the progress of the ‘Best Value’ inspection. Today the government published its response to those letters

THREAD: Thurrock Council, to what should now be the surprise of no one, has effectively declared bankruptcy.

Today's Section 114 notice has been expected for weeks. What's more remarkable is the continued attempts of local Conservatives to distance themselves from the calamity Firstly, a disclaimer. I've felt like writing a thread like this for some time but held back because I think when you do a long term investigation like this it's best to stick only to facts rather than what might be seen as analysis or opinion (1/2)

BREAKING: Thurrock Council reveals £500m black hole caused by failed investments - the biggest funding gap ever reported by a UK local authority

thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2022-1… Report published this evening reveals devastating impact of a scandal uncovered over the last three years by @TBIJ

BREAKING: Toucan Energy Holdings 1, the company which owes Thurrock Council £655m, has gone into administration TEH1 owns 53 solar farms across the UK, the purchase of which was largely financed by Thurrock Council.

In a statement released today, administrators Interpath Advisory said the company sought administration "after concluding that its liabilities exceeded its assets"

What's happening in Thurrock deserves more attention. A council recklessly borrowed £1bn from other (apathetic) local authorities and then risked it all on secretive and ultimately disastrous money-spinning deals. Now there's no choice but to give it hundreds of millions more

https://twitter.com/Gareth_Davies09/status/1577334043271626754

This didn't happen overnight. Thurrock has been borrowing from other councils to finance investments since 2016. Up until last month. all the checks and balances, both locally and nationally, that are supposedly in place to prevent things like this from happening have failed

BREAKING: Thurrock Council has been given permission to borrow nearly £850m from the public purse as an “urgent solution” to meet its debt repayments, mostly to other local authorities The majority of the money will be used to repay the dozens of local authorities Thurrock has perpetually borrowed from in recent years to finance around £1 billion of investments in money-making schemes, a number of which have collapsed or are in serious danger

Update: A proposal to suspend the chief executive of @ThurrockCouncil was withdrawn at the eleventh hour of a dramatic council meeting this evening Thurrock's general services committee met tonight to discuss a report recommending the suspension of chief executive Lyn Carpenter due to the urgent government intervention at the council in the wake of an @TBIJ investigation thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2022-0…

Exclusive: @thurrockcouncil set to suspend chief executive, having also suspended chief finance officer, as fallout from @TBIJ investigation continues thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2022-0… @thurrockcouncil @TBIJ Lyn Carpenter, Thurrock's chief executive since 2015, is expected to be suspended at a council committee meeting tonight - having already been placed on extended leave for the last week

Crisis-hit Thurrock Council owes other local authorities nearly £1bn. I asked them which councils and, unsurprisingly, received no reply. So here's a 🧵of my ongoing attempts to trace all that 💰💰💰 There are 500 applicable local authorities Thurrock could have borrowed from in the UK, including other councils and combined authorities, to police & crime commissioners and even fire authorities. Not to mention the 86 pension funds in England and Wales

Thurrock has published a budget update - the first report since the government's urgent intervention was announced on Friday. It's far from the full picture, but provides an indication of the problems the council faces democracy.thurrock.gov.uk/documents/s357… The forecasts show the situation as of June 30, a few weeks before our latest story came out. The overall picture is that the council is projecting a £7.5m budget shortfall, a gap it plans to fill mostly by "extensive use" of its reserves

UPDATE: Basildon and East Thurrock's Conservative MP @Metcalfe_SBET says crisis-hit @thurrockcouncil gave him "inaccurate" assurances "that its finances were in order" over several years As @TBIJ investigated and reported on Thurrock's investment scandal I approached Metcalfe on several occasions asking for his reaction to our findings.

On Friday @luhc Secretary of State @gregclarkmp announced a major intervention at @ThurrockCouncil prompted by a long-term investigation by @TBIJ. The detail makes for alarming reading, not just for the people of Thurrock but councils across the UK 🧵⬇️ IYMI the government has handed over control of Thurrock Council’s finances - for *three years* - to neighbouring Essex County Council, which will also undertake an inspection to determine the extent of Thurrock’s failure to provide ‘best value’ for its residents

BREAKING: Thurrock Council leader Rob Gledhill resigns as government prepares to announce intervention over investment scandal revealed by @TBIJ investigation Gledhill said in a statement: "It has become clear over the past few months that the situation regarding council investments, and subsequently its finances, has not been as reported. As Leader of the Council the political buck stops with me"

THREAD: Yesterday two at-risk local authorities were told to sell off publicly-owned assets - such as leisure centres and libraries - to balance their books in the latest short-sighted (and, in this case, ironic) government response to #councilsincrisis Peterborough and Wirral councils have been told to take urgent action to plug gaps in their budgets following the publication of reviews into their finances. For a summary, see @patrickjbutler's story from yesterday theguardian.com/society/2021/n…

An interesting evening ahead in Thanet, as council members meet to discuss a damning report by auditors Grant Thornton into serious governance failings spanning the last two and a half years The report describes an extraordinary breakdown in the relationships between the four most senior members of the council's management team, resulting in series of mishandled whistleblowing and grievance complaints and legal costs which could cripple the authority