Council to draw up local child poverty plan

Moves to tackle child poverty, including the preparation of a local plan to combat it, have been decided by Hastings Borough Council after the matter dominated September’s Full Council meeting. Nick Terdre reports.

A three-part motion was put to the Full Council meeting on 18 September by Mike Turner of the Hastings Independents calling for a letter to be sent to the prime minister, health authorities, the council leader and local MP pressing the “Government to enforce urgent measures to address the worsening crisis of child poverty across the most deprived areas of the borough such as Baird ward, Hollington and Ore,” requesting the immediate cancellation of the two-child benefit cap and the development of a local plan to combat child poverty.

The motion, which starts, “New statistics show that more children in Hastings are slipping into poverty,” did not specify what this evidence is.

The Labour group, which is supportive of government policy, proposed replacing the second part with a call for all MPs to support the Labour government’s plans to stabilise the economy “in order to be in a position to abolish the two-child benefit cap introduced by the last Conservative Government as soon as economic conditions allow.”

Champions

Their amendment also called for two champions to be appointed from among councillors “to ensure that the council are taking poverty seriously.” One would be an anti-poverty champion and the other would take up the issue of violence against women and girls “as it is known that violence breeds in impoverished parts of the town.”

The proposer did not however accept the Labour amendment, for which reason it was put straight to the vote. Only the members of the Labour group supported it, while all the other groups opposed it, so that it was lost by 21 votes to nine (two of the 32 councilllors were absent).

An amendment put forward by council leader Cllr Julia Hilton for the Greens sharpened up the third part on establishing a local plan to combat child poverty. This now reads that the council “requests the Chair of Overview and Scrutiny to set up a task and finish group to work on development of a local plan to combat Child Poverty as part of their already planned workstream on anti-poverty strategies and initiatives.”

The plan will explore the formation of a “truly independent town wide working group” and will look to involve key partners such as voluntary groups, ESCC’s Public Health and Children’s Services, NHS Sussex and local schools.

A further amendment tabled by Cllr Matthew Beaver for the Conservatives proposed that the letter called for in part one be sent by the council leader. Hilton’s and Beaver’s amendments were accepted by the proposer, and incorporated in the motion which was voted through by 17 votes to nine. This time the 12 Greens and five Hastings Independents voted in favour and the Labour group against, while the four Tories abstained.

Greens criticised

Although the Greens supported their motion, the Hastings Independents have been critical of their leadership. In a statement released before the meeting, they said, “Tackling poverty, supporting struggling communities and holding public services such as Southern Water and Southern Housing to account are essential actions for the council leadership, and we are disappointed by the lack of pace and commitment to make things happen.

“…And although we agree with the Green party criticism of the Labour Government, who show little interest in towns like Hastings, setting out an alternative ambition that narrows the wealth gap is too urgent to just talk about. A commitment to community involvement is commendable but can easily lead to stasis unless these conversations are driven dynamically by council officers.”

For their part the Labour group released a statement after the meeting stating that their attempt to create council champions for poverty and violence against women and girls had failed when all the other parties voted against it, including the Greens, “despite the fact the Green leadership had  agreed to support it in the weeks before all councillors met.”

Labour group leader Cllr Margi O’Callaghan said, “ The Greens voting against this proposal seemed to go against their promises of collaborative working…The Green administration needs to take challenges like this seriously and stop getting involved in gesture politics and point scoring.”

Cabinet portfolio?

She pointed out that the Labour group had appointed a shadow Cabinet position for poverty: “It would show they take the issue seriously if the Green administration added it as a cabinet portfolio and put vulnerable residents first.”

Cllr Glenn Haffenden explained the Green position to HOT: “If the Labour group hadn’t combined their proposal for a poverty champion and a champion for women and girls with an amendment to remove the section of the motion calling for the removal of the two child benefit cap, we would have voted for it.”

Proposed champions roles will be discussed at the next cross-party Working Arrangement Group, which will agree what roles will go forward and devise a method for appointing them, he said.

“The Labour group is welcome to add their proposed champions to the list for discussion at that meeting. The agreed list of champions and a method for appointing them will then be brought to the next Full Council meeting for discussion and agreement.”

The Working Arrangements Group is an informal cross-party grouping whose recommendations go to Full Council or Cabinet for decision.Its current members are Cllrs Hilton (Greens – chair), Judy Rogers (Labour – vice chair), Tony Collins (Greens), Andy Patmore (Conservatives) and Simon Willis (Hastings Independents).

Rother District Council already has a child poverty strategy which was established in 2022, under the leadership of the Rother Local Strategic Partnership. However, HOT has been unable to find the annual report which the partnership is supposed to publish.

 

 

Also in: Local Government

Hilton explains all Green Cabinet »