Thurrock is a unitary authority in the county of Essex and borders London to the east, north of the River Thames. Its landscape is flat and marshy with a heavy industrial presence and major freight infrastructure of roads and railways. Thurrock is currently a ‘non-place’, unnoticed by the rest of the country, and best known for the giant retail park of Lakeside.

Thurrock is a “community of communities”, with five main urban settlements – Grays and Chafford Hundred, Tilbury/Chadwell St. Mary, West Thurrock/Purfleet, Stanford-le-Hope/Corringham, and Ockendon/Aveley. It is 60% greenbelt land, a large rural area with nine main villages and 18 miles of river frontage.

Transport links to Central London are good. Regular commuter train services take around 35 minutes and road links are very good due to the M25 and A13. The Dartford river crossings enable north-south travel and there is also a passenger ferry from Tilbury to Gravesend on the south bank.