Politicians in Thurrock want to retain more of the taxes generated locally - as well as work more closely with the surrounding councils to create a south Essex “economic powerhouse”.


Figures obtained by the Gazette show that Thurrock Council has taken £431,429,000 in uniform business rates in the past four tax years and retained £122,174,000 of it.


Originally, business rates were collected by local authorities and then all the earnings were sent back to Central Government.

But in 2013, under the coalition government, the rules changed so that a proportion of the earnings could be retained by the local authorities that collected them.


Thurrock has kept 28 per cent of the business rates it has collected over the past four years.


Advocating the creation of a larger local authority in south Essex, Jackie Doyle-Price, MP for Thurrock, said: “The extent of wealth creation here in Thurrock means we have always been a net contributor of uniform business rates and I want to see more of that money stay here. 


“The way to achieve that is through the creation of a south Essex authority bringing together all the authorities from Thurrock to Southend so that we can spend the money raised locally on what we want to and establish south Essex as a real economic powerhouse. 


“It is abundantly clear that Thurrock lacks the managerial leadership to deliver big or transformational projects. With a larger combined authority we could do so much better.”


Leader of the Council, Rob Gledhill said: “As we continue to create a high quality place for Thurrock’s residents and businesses, we need to retain and reinvest more of the taxes generated locally.


“A recent consultation response was sent to government outlining our position on the retention of rates and we are awaiting the outcome. 


“However, despite the current business rates retention system, it means we are a net contributor, we cannot ignore that government has put hundreds of millions of pounds back into infrastructure projects to improve the A13, M25, the college, the new underpass for Grays to name but a few of these schemes.

“However, the council recognises that there may be further opportunities with partners beyond our borough’s boundaries which is why we continue to work closely on a planning and growth with Local authority and business partners across the whole of south Essex.”