Okay, so yes I started the first protest event at around 15:40 on 19th July, somewhat late in the day – yet high levels of ‘people traffic’. The reason being, making placards is a little more time consuming than I first thought!
I have photos of me walking up and down New Road holding the placard pole but I am rubbish at selfies (using a relative’s pink selfie stick didn’t help) so they are not good enough to publish…
Overall my 2 hours were fun and I think successful. I got quite a few wry smiles, observed some oddities and received some interesting titbits that may come in handy. I was also a bit surprised yesterday morning (doing recon) at how many ‘luxury’ cars went in and out of the council car park, especially as 50 odd feet away 5 people sat on a green supping from cans of lager before 11am; what a ‘diverse’ world we live in!
I got quite a boost in viewership around the time a lot of those that saw me as they left the building would be arriving home, so some notice was taken.
I’ll carry on with these protests and hopefully I can increase subscribers, get the press involved and contact my MP; I will invest more time to make these events more eye catching.
Change to residential planning is needed, with key areas apparently screaming for renewal: single accountability, departmental synchronicity, empathy and equality to all, applicant responsibilities, long & short term vision for the community.
I just feel that we the residents of Thurrock deserve evidence of dynamic yet logical planning leadership when the shape of our communities are being driven ‘behind the scenes’ (council); based on my meeting I can’t see this.
Thurrock Unplanned 