The “cost of living” crisis is a serious threat to life and requires an emergency response, Labour said this week.
Two senior councillors warned: “As a council, we are woefully under-prepared for the likely impact here in Brighton and Hove, particularly in poorer areas of the city, where poverty levels are already high.
“We know as well as you do that this crisis is not of the council’s making, and that the ‘big picture’ solutions that would mitigate it – or at least minimise the impact, as other countries are successfully showing – can only be put in place by central government.
“(But) there are steps that are within our power to take, beyond the things we have already been doing to help throughout previous periods of austerity.
“And we believe we must be as prepared as possible to launch into full crisis footing, treating the coming storm as a serious threat to life, like the pandemic.
“For example, we should consider how we can use all public spaces, including libraries, schools and museums as ‘warm zones’ whenever possible, for those in need, and how we can take private partners with us on that journey.
“We could be more proactive in ensuring that benefit take-up is as high as possible. Many elderly people who are eligible for pension credits, for example, are unaware of their eligibility.
“And because they are not claiming, they then lose eligibility for other benefits like fuel help, TV licence fee help, etc.
“We would suggest considering both a local economy recovery organisation – akin to a council-owned holding company – and a mutual credit network to really help both our businesses and all our residents ride out the coming financial tsunami.
“Similarly, we must push forward on policies like landlord licensing, holiday-let controls and principal residence policies – and work hard to convince landlords that hair-trigger evictions for rent arrears are not the way to go in a full-scale crisis since the next tenant who applies is liable to be someone who has been evicted in much the same circumstances from their previous home, benefiting no one in a merry-go-round of misery.
“We’ve heard of people using candles and camping stoves to light, cook and heat their homes when unable to pay for gas and electricity.
“This puts people at risk to life and we need to ensure everything is done to help those desperate enough to resort to those methods – the numbers are likely to increase as we go into the autumn and winter months.
“We must ensure that no one in our city suffers hypothermia, gets exposed to house fires for lack of safe heating and cooking facilities or goes hungry this winter and that hard-pressed local businesses can survive.”
The warning comes in a letter from Councillor John Allcock and Councillor Carmen Appich, the joint leaders of the Labour opposition on Brighton and Hove City Council.
They wrote to Green councillor Phélim Mac Cafferty, the leader of the council, and chief executive Geoff Raw to set out their concerns.
They also pledged to “help in any way we can” in tackling the threat from rising prices, especially energy prices.
They said that fuel bills were forecast to go up from an average of £1,200 a year to £4,200 as the price cap, which restricts prices, is raised in the coming months.
The pair warned: “Financial experts and forecasters predict that inflation is likely to go above 15 per cent for the first time in decades.
“Martin Lewis, of Money Saving Expert, has described the situation as building a ‘national financial cataclysm’.
“We are aware that for those already in poverty or currently only just outside that zone, this represents a ‘real’ inflation rate of over 25 per cent, given the much higher proportion of those lower incomes that is spent on essentials like food, fuel, rent or mortgages.”
And without action, they said that they were concerned that almost a third of households could experience “fuel poverty” by the time the cold weather began to bite.
They have asked for an urgent meeting next month to explore what steps the council can take.
Perhaps the council could look at ways of cutting waste, improving efficiency, and focusing on increasing revenues so that council tax can be reduced?
How about encouraging businesses and visitors rather than scaring motorists away with high priced parking and bus gates?
Or consider getting rid of B-Ark jobs such as Biodiversity officers and the person who ensures Green councillors “sing from the same hymn book”?
How many communications officers posting council propaganda on social media do we really need?
And could Labour revoke the Memorandum of Understanding (aka coalition agreement) they signed with the Greens that means they blindly support many of their policies, and start acting as a proper opposition and hold the Greens to account.
“…next tenant who applies is liable to be someone who has been evicted in much the same circumstances from their previous home” – NOT true. Most landlords would not consider someone with a history of rent arrears. Most landlords in this city a small time – 1 or 2 properties looking for a safe place to invest money (often as an alternative to a pension fund). They cannot afford to forego rent on the properties, which are very expensive investments. Rental properties are much needed in this city. BHCC should stop demonising landlords.
It would be a start if local councils went back to providing the services locals are PAYING for, rather than demanding ever-increasing council tax for doing NOTHING.
The financial “crisis” comes from central government though. Oil companies and general utilities are boasting of record profits BECAUSE they’ve been encouraged to impose record price rises.
Thatcher said “greed is good”, but the situation now is unjustifiable and unsustainable.
They’re laughing (at us) all the way to the bank, with the full blessing of corrupt politicians (is there any other kind?).
There is a lot of disposable income in this city – just look at the number of tattoo parlours and the numbers of relatively young people with thousands of pounds worth of ink under their skin. Most people can find the money to pay the increased energy prices – heating vs. markings…
Maybe folk are turning to camping stoves rather than feeding extortion by the energy firms? Just sayin’!
Ah yes, the Labour ‘opposition’! You mean Green puppets