Tilbury is a town in the Borough of Thurrock, in the county of Essex. Tilbury is on the North-eastern side of the River Thames. It has long had an industrial history, which still has visible remnants used today such as the famous Port of Tilbury opened over 132 years ago. Tilbury is quite urbanized with many residential homes and shops. There are three main parks which surround this neighbourhood: Koala Park; King George’s Field and Anchor Fields Park.

Tilbury’s history is connected with its geography and the River Thames has long been a key part of Tilbury’s development. Historian FCJ Spurrell, claims that Roman settlements existed in Tilbury Docks. Despite the potential that Tilbury had due to its proximity to the Thames estuary, making it an obvious choice as a first port of call for boarding ships, its marshland topography has made the process difficult. In the 12th century the River Thames, which until then was difficult to navigate, was dredged resulting in improved river flow as well as improved land use.

In 1694 local entrepreneur, Daniel Defore, built a brick and tile factory in this area. In 1588 Queen Elizabeth I came to Tilbury to evaluate her Royal army at the neighbouring village of West Tilbury. Tilbury docks were mainly built by stone cutters and mystics, freemasons.

Thurrock Council has opposed planned developments of the Lower Thames Crossing, because it does not connect much of the existing main roads in Thurrock and it will go against the natural look of the area. Tilbury lacks many public transport routes with limited bus services and only two rail stations, in Tilbury and East Tilbury respectively.

Tilbury is set to expand in an approved £90 million infrastructure project, which is part of a wider £1 billion investment in the Tilbury 2 expansion project. The UK government announced that Tilbury port will employ 9,000 people by 2030, 3 times more than it did in 2012. The initiative received development consent from the Secretary of State for Transport in February 2019 to build a port terminal adjacent to the current 930 acre site in Thurrock and the terminal was completed in 2021. Also in 2021, Tarmac, a UK sustainable construction solutions business, committed to a 25-year partnership with the Port of Tilbury to build the UK’s largest construction materials aggregates terminal, following a £250 million pound investment made by Forth Ports at Tilbury 2.