Your Conservative Cabinet commissioned a Residents Survey at the back-end of 2016. We believe that residents have strong opinions on what their borough should look and feel like. Residents shouldn't have to wait 12/24months for an election cycle to try and do something about the concerns they have by voting a certain way...

After years of canvassing residents across the borough, the Residents Survey reinforced what our doorstop discussions told us. We knew we had to make good Clean It - Cut It - Fill it, and reverse the environmental neglect of the previous administration.

Life is busy for us all. We do not believe people have infinite time to make transactions with the council, or look up things of interest. Interestingly 61% of residents surveyed said they would entertain use of digital systems to make transactions with the council.

Years ago, you had to put a suit on for a mortgage interview at the bank, now you can do much of it indoors in your front room. As the market has evolved, this council must too.More and more services that Thurrock offers has to become digital-first – indeed, if you are a shift-worker, like I have been, accessing services 24/7 via digital means is a great help.

Those who are not overly confident with IT systems need not worry - on the Contact Us page on the council website, we will be sharing tools and services which can help you grow the skills needed to access these services The council's Communications and Customer Service Strategies recently consolidated a number of things - specifically that we will "go to market" in using digital media such as Facebook, Twitter, monthly email subscriptions and other media outlets to communicate with you, and also HOW you can make quicker transactions on a 24/7 basis.

So I urge residents to sign up for My Account on thurrock.gov.uk/account. You will be surprised at how much you can do, at a time convenient to you and your family.