IT’S here, at last. It’s been a long road too. Election day.

Come the small hours of tomorrow morning we should all know who is Thurrock’s new champion. 

Will it be Jackie, Polly or Tim in the MP hot seat for the next four or five years? The wait is almost over.
And the winner won’t have much time for respite. 

On the contrary, she or he will have lots to turn their attention to. 

The campaigning fun will be over, the hard work will begin.

The regeneration of Grays town centre, the further improvement of our schools, new ways to meet house-building targets...All these will be high on the agenda. 

But probably not as high as a second Thames Crossing. This is a real hot potato, which isn’t cooling down.

The people of the borough are not happy. They feel like good ‘ol Thurrock is about to be lumbered – again.

The feeling is that one crossing is quite enough for us here, thank you very much.

And residents will expect their representative in Westminster to be decisive on this – and fight to keep a second crossing at bay. 

And it’s so far so good. All the main candidates have delivered some strong words on the subject featured in today’s Gazette.

Now we wait to see if the successful candidate will make good on their promises.