Thurrock Council’s Finance boss has reassured the borough that they are “on the right path” despite a projected overspend of £1 million.

Council spending for the first three months of this financial year was presented at a meeting of the council’s cabinet last week.

The report reveals an estimated overspend of £1.05 million that must be managed in order to outturn within budget by March 31.

Shane Hebb, the councillor responsible for finance, also detailed how the council’s plans for a balanced budget and the wider aspirations for being self-sufficient were looking.

He said: “Just last year, we were looking at a £4 million overspend in the children’s and education budget. This year, that is down by 75 per cent.

“Despite the £1 million social services pressure and more pressure in the waste contract spending, myself and cabinet are absolutely confident that we will do what we did last year – be balanced, more resilient and yards closer to our self-sufficient aspirations.”

Cabinet heard a report from the council’s external auditors which described the council’s budget setting process as “robust, with sensibly prudent assumptions applied to uncertain income streams and future expenditure.”

But Labour leader Oliver Gerrish was critical of the council’s budget after the meeting and called on council leaders to outline their detailed plan to manage the overspend without jeopardising services to the borough.

The councillor for West Thurrock and South Stifford warned that steps were required to keep spending from “spiralling out of control”.

He said: “Because it’s early in the year, the overspend can be corrected – this has been done before – but it’s very important that the administration acts with urgency and does not let it spiral out of control as they did last time they were in power.

“I am calling on them to quickly publish their plans to recover the budget position and to spell out what this means for service delivery.”

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