22 Sep #Thurrock: Councillor Churchman re-joins Conservative group
The Conservatives have become the biggest party in Thurrock Council after a councillor has ‘re-joined’ the party.
Colin Churchman was originally elected in 2004 for a seat in Aveley as a Conservative becoming Mayor in 2005. He subsequently became the UKIP candidate for Stanford East and Corringham town in 2015 and was elected.
Colin publicly resigned from UKIP following an attempt to with whip in relation to a planning application in the greenbelt, something that is not allowed under planning law.
Conservative group leader and the leader of the council, Robert Gledhill, has announced that councillor Colin Churchman has re-joined the Conservative group at the Thurrock council Rob says “it was great for Colin to approach the group and asked to join after seeing how well we have performed in the first 100 days of taking administration of Thurrock Council. Colin as a former Conservative councillor and indeed Conservative mayor renounced he is UKIP membership last year after UKIP attempted to unlawfully whip him in respect of planning decisions. I assured him that under my leadership this has not and will not ever happen on planning. Colin joins us after a year of being an independent councillor a year where he showed his commitment to his residents. ”
Rob added “despite Colin being clearly in a lot of pain following a serious accident he has demonstrated that he remains an active councillor and has the respect of those who elected him. Whilst I’m sure his previous political party will be upset he remains an elected member until 2019 and will continue to serve his residents in the way that has happened until now. This now makes the Conservatives the largest group in Thurrock and we will continue to work with other political groups to ensure not only stability but our change program continues to ensure our residents are properly served by this council. “
