Green candidate for Grays Riverside by-election Pauline Weir states priority

The Green Party candidate for the upcoming Grays Riverside by-election, Pauline Weir, has made her priority clear: securing a seat on the Corporate Oversight and Scrutiny Committee to hold the current administration accountable.

Weir stated:

If I am elected, I shall insist that this mandate from the Riverside electorate means I replace one of the Reform UK councillors on the Corporate Oversight and Scrutiny Committee.

When Reform UK took control of the council in May, it took the chair and control of all of Thurrock’s Oversight and Scrutiny committees. But as Weir points out, given the history of Thurrock, the one that concerns her most is the Corporate Scrutiny committee:

This committee has nine Reform UK councillors, and the only two Conservatives on the council. How is this scrutiny?

Since 2025, the Serious Fraud Office has been investigating a scheme by which the Conservative-led Thurrock Council invested millions into solar farms between 2016 and 2020. It used a bond scheme sold by the UK-based Rockfire Investment Finance Plc.

Says Weir:

The residents are still paying the price. The council voted to increase council tax by 9.99% in 2023, after the reckless gambling of the council with our residents’ money.

Council Tax has continued to rise since, with external auditors unwilling to sign off the council’s books.

The by-election in Grays Riverside on 23 July resulted from the resignation of a Reform Councillor elected in May this year. Weir says:

We got within 17 votes of taking a seat in Riverside in May. We are the only party that stands a realistic chance of providing at least some scrutiny for the residents of this ward.

Featured image via South West Essex Green Party