Thurrock Council have yet another consultation for you to fill in – this one focuses on the natural environment and open spaces: Council seeking residents’ views on open spaces, regeneration and climate change in another survey as it tries to pull much-delayed local plan together.

Here’s the link to the survey: Have your say https://www.thurrockyourplaceyourvoice.co.uk/have-your-say/

This is part of the tortuous process of the council trying to pull together a long overdue local plan – a process that’s been ongoing since 2016! Obviously, a lot has changed since then with the coronavirus crisis and the subsequent lockdowns and tiered restrictions changing how people work, travel, shop and use their leisure time. Last year, we couldn’t help but notice a big increase in the number of people walking in the local countryside and across the marshes as they sought some escape from the crisis. A welcome increase in that it made people aware of what open spaces they have pretty much on their doorstep. Obviously with restrictions having been eased off for the moment, people are understandably going further afield for their recreation.

We’re guessing this has informed Thurrock Council’s thinking in opening up this particular consultation. While we’re pretty cynical about local authority consultations, on the basis that if you don’t try, you don’t get, it’s worth the effort of filling this one in.

When you open up the consultation form, you will notice the option to pick a specific location to comment upon. The list of locations includes East Tilbury which is where Coalhouse Fort is located. The future of the fort has become the subject of considerable controversy since the folding of the almost exclusively volunteer run Coalhouse Fort Project and the transfer of the ‘maintenance’ to Thurrock Council: The shame of Thurrock Council and Coalhouse Fort. Angry residents despair of ‘money-grabbing’ authority that has no time for heritage of the borough.

Note the use of quote marks around the word ‘maintenance’. This is because since Thurrock Council took over responsibility for Coalhouse Fort, they’ve done sod all with it and what should be one of the jewels in the crown for the borough’s heritage is suffering from a dangerous level of neglect. So, this latest consultation from Thurrock Council is the perfect opportunity for residents who care about the long term future of Coalhouse Fort to have their say. Have fun…