Coordinates: 51°29′01″N 0°16′55″E / 51.4836°N 0.2820°E / 51.4836; 0.2820

West Thurrock is a traditional Church of England parish and town in Thurrock, Essex, England, located 17.5 miles (28.1 km) east south-east of Charing Cross, London.

West Thurrock is part of the unitary authority of Thurrock located on the north bank of the River Thames about 17 miles (27 km) from Charing Cross, London.

Nearest places:

Nearest stations:

Industry along the Thames includes a Unilever chilled distribution centre for all its chilled food products (Flora, Bertolli, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, Stork, Peperami and AdeZ) and a Procter and Gamble (originally Hedley's) plant manufacturing detergents and soaps. The large coal-burning West Thurrock Power Station closed in 1993, and was replaced by a plant making industrial chemicals, particularly the raw materials for detergent manufacture. The 190 metre tall electricity pylons of 380kV Thames Crossing, the tallest electricity pylons in UK, remain. Just upstream of the pylons the tunnel of High Speed 1 passes under the Thames.

Thurrock is a unitary authority with borough status in the English ceremonial county of Essex. It is part of the London commuter belt and an area of regeneration within the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The local authority is Thurrock Council.

It lies on the River Thames just to the east of London. With over 18 miles (29 km) of riverfront it covers an area of 64 square miles (166 km²), with more than half defined as Green Belt. With Greater London to the west and the river to the south, the county of Essex abuts the Borough to the north and east, and across the river lies Kent.

The local authority is Thurrock Council. Elections are held 3 out of every 4 years. In the last election in 2012, Labour took control after a period in which no party had overall control.

Thurrock is covered by two parliamentary constituencies. Thurrock includes most of the borough while South Basildon and East Thurrock includes some wards in the east of the borough. Both seats were Conservative gains from Labour at the 2010 general election.

Christopher Stephen "Chris" Grayling, MP (born 1 April 1962), is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Shadow Cabinet from 2005 to 2010 and was the party's Shadow Home Secretary from 2009 to 2010. Following the 2010 general election, he was appointed a Minister of State in the Department for Work and Pensions. He has been a Member of Parliament (MP) representing the constituency of Epsom and Ewell since 2001.

Chris Grayling was born in London and grew up in Buckinghamshire.

Grayling was educated at the Royal Grammar School in High Wycombe. He then went on to Cambridge University, where he completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in history at Sidney Sussex College in 1984.

Grayling joined BBC News in 1985 as a trainee, becoming a producer in 1986. He left the BBC in 1988 to join Channel 4 as an editor on its Business Daily programme. He rejoined the BBC in 1991 as a business development manager on BBC Select. On leaving the BBC in 1993, he ran several television production companies, including managing the corporate communications division of Workhouse Ltd from 1992-5 and SSVC Group in Gerrards Cross from 1995-7. He became a management consultant in 1997 with Burson Marsteller, where he remained until his election to Westminster.

Jack Petchey CBE (born 1925) is a businessman, now involved in many charitable enterprises. He was born and brought up in the East End of London. During the second world war, he served in the Royal Navy, and used his Navy discharge pay to start a car hire and car sales business. This grew into a business empire worth - in mid-2007 - over half a billion pounds. In 1969 he was involved with property development becoming one of the most successful businessmen in Britain. As well as his own business interests, he is a frequent investor in quoted companies via his investment vehicle, Trefick. His investing style tends to be cautious. He tends to look for strong asset backing and cash flow.

The Jack Petchey Foundation, formed in 1999, has given over £42 million to youth programmes. He started an award scheme for young people recognising, "extreme endeavour and to help young people to help themselves". This scheme covers schools, Scouts, sports clubs, such as cricket clubs, and other organisations.