THE controversial planned £10m extension to the council’s civic HQ will partly be built on a small park next to the current Civic building dedicated to the memory of D-Day planners.

However, Thurrock Council said it had no record of the dedication, despite the plaque, pictured, being just a stone’s throw from the HQ in Grays. And archive records of the Gazette confirmed a plaque was placed in Mulberry Square in June 1994 and an unveiling ceremony took place.

However a council spokesman thought it had “gone missing”.

The name Mulberry is believed to have come the term used for artificial harbours that were constructed in Tilbury and used as part of the D-Day invasion.

A Thurrock Council spokesman said: “We have made extensive enquiries on this matter and can find no official record of any formal dedication of Mulberry Square.

“Searches have been made on the title deeds of the square, as well as the War Memorial Register, which is maintained by the Imperial War Museum. In both cases there is no mention of a memorial garden or the square being dedicated.

“We have been advised that there was previously a plaque on the gates to the square, however we cannot find any record of it or its removal.

“The council owns the square and it has been identified as a potential development site since at least 2013.

“Under the current civic offices extension proposals, Mulberry Square would be redeveloped, however the design of the scheme allows for landscaping elsewhere in the vicinity, including public seating areas outside a new café and a new registrars garden for ceremonial use.”

In the 1980s shops were on the site, but the council acquired them through compulsory purchase orders in an effort to launch a Grays regeneration scheme. However, the plan fell through and the site was made into a park .

After questioning why the redevelopment was happening on the park during a recent council meeting, Labour group leader John Kent asked the leader of the council Rob Gledhill, how residents will benefit from £10million being spent on new offices. Mr Gledhill said it would set an example to other businesses and refused to go along with Mr Kent’s suggestion the council should cancel the scheme.