LAST week it was announced the Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation would be wound up and its powers transferred to Thurrock Council.

This decision implements the Conservative promise to return planning powers to local communities. We have also scrapped top-down housing targets and bureaucracy. With regional government gone, local authorities are now back in control of their own destinies. The corporation has been controversial, not least because of some of its proposals for housing. It was, however, implementing an ambitious programme for regenerating Thurrock, which it will now fall to the council to deliver.

Most significantly, the council will resume its planning powers. This will be a considerable challenge for the council, which has had a rather chequered recent history on planning.

Having been given the challenge, it needs to put the past behind it and raise its game in order to ensure it can deliver the strategic needs for the community.

So, while the housing targets are gone, it will need to ensure there are sufficient plans for housebuilding of the right type to meet future local need.

It will also need effective dialogue with local business to ensure it is supporting the transport infrastructure that will enable our local economy to thrive; And, it will need to build good working relationships with many partners, including DP World and the Royal Opera House to make sure the regeneration agenda is achieved.

On another note, it was a humbling experience to attend the Battle of Britain service in Grays on Sunday and to be reminded of the debt we owe to those who defended our freedom then and who defend our freedom now. My thanks to RAFA for their warm hospitality after the event.