How Very Dare You Write To The Council!

Police are investigating “hate” comments made on the planning section of Thurrock Council’s website.

Yes, you won’t be surprised to find it’s that perennial favourite, the unauthorised traveller encampment.

The comments were made by members of the public in response to an application to legalise a travellers site on Malvern Road in Grays.

An application which was refused two weeks ago, but which is – of course! – dragging on and on and on…

Complaints about comments on the website were made by the travellers to the police and the council, who acted to remove comments.

But removing those comments is clearly not enough! There’s quotas to fill, and identity groups to be mollified:

Thurrock Chief Inspector Ben Hodder said: “Police are investigating to see if any offences have taken place. They have been recorded as hate incidents, they become hate crimes if we believe an offence has been committed.

“There have been a number of disputes on Malvern Road, one as recently as last week. Police are there to prevent a breach of the police.”

We know full well the sort of ‘disputes’ the police get involved in…

A spokesman for Thurrock Council said: “Immediately following concerns raised by the applicants, the council’s Information Management team reviewed the letters posted online and found two letters that needed further redaction.

“All the letters were removed on Thursday, 17 October to allow time for each to be considered fully and to ensure any inflammatory comments were redacted.

“The letters were then uploaded to the website again.

“As soon as the council was made aware of the applicant’s concerns, immediate action was taken.”

What a pity that ‘immediate action’ wasn’t taken as soon as this illegal camp was set up…