Poverty a ‘hidden’ issue in county

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Tuesday, 21 January 2020 20:54

By Saul Cooke-Black - Local Democracy Reporter

Poverty and inequality have been highlighted as major problems facing Monmouthshire in a council motion which won cross-party support.

Political groups on the local authority vowed to work together to tackle the issue at a full council meeting on Thursday.

The leader of the council’s Labour group, councillor Dimitri Batrouni, wrote a poverty and inequality action plan using his own research, which went before the meeting, after previously criticising the Conservative-led authority’s progress on the issue.

Councillor Batrouni said poverty has not been recognised as an issue facing Monmouthshire previously because of the county’s “general prosperous nature”, which means “severe pockets of deprivation” have not been recognised in statistics.

“Monmouthshire’s poverty is more hidden,” he told councillors.

“It’s smaller pockets and I would say starker levels of deprivation.”

The motion, which was approved in an amended form, also calls for the council to campaign for grant funding to help communities with the highest levels of deprivation.

The amended version, which was unanimously approved, says: “The council believes inequality and poverty are major problems in Monmouthshire and the council should campaign for an Income Inequality grant.”

Councillor Batrouni’s research focused on income inequalities in the county, and highlighted large gaps between high and low earners.

He also said people with less who live in wealthier areas “suffer disproportionately.”

Cabinet member for social justice and community development, Cllr Sara Jones, said the council already has a plan to tackle poverty, but welcomed councillor Batrouni’s research and vowed to work with the Labour group on the issue.

“This is a serious issue affecting a lot of our residents,” she said.

“We are tackling it already but we need to do more and I appreciate that.”

Leader of the Liberal Democrats group, Cllr Jo Watkins, voiced supported for tackling the issue on a cross-party basis, “to get to the bottom of where problems of poverty are in Monmouthshire.”

And Independent group leader, Cllr Frances Taylor, also gave her support, adding that the authority should lobby Welsh and UK governments on the issue.

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