COUNCILLORS could decide the future of the borough’s first ever parish council by March.

The Frost Estate in Corringham applied to become Thurrock’s first parish council in January and in February a 380 strong petition was handed in urging the council to hold a referendum about creating a specialised community council.

The new parish council would see certain council responsibilities delegated to it from the borough council, with its own budget from a council tax precept.

A timetable for a Community Governance Review of the proposed council was approved during a full council meeting yesterday evening.

The review, which will work in two stages, is set to kick off on Sunday with residents being asked to complete a survey.

The results of the survey will then be considered by a general services committee who will then make a decision to enact the second stage of the review.

This will bring the proposal back to full council - A decision is set to be made on whether a parish council will go forward in March.

However, during the council meeting on Wednesday, Councillor Phil Smith, questioned how much the Parish Council could cost residents.

He said: “One of the things I don’t think the residents have been fully informed about is the true cost of setting this parish council up.

“Once you start the parish council they will have to fund the election, fund the meetings they will have to find a clerk.

“This is before they even fund the roads. What we also have to look at is that some of the residents have already done their roads in their area.

“So what we will be doing is asking the residents in that area to pay additional money to fund other peoples roads.”

However, Councillor Mark Coxshall disagreed with the statement – he explained that the costs will be divided between 420 households - bringing the costs down to a minimal amount.