A political debate has flared over a poverty action plan, with opposition members telling the council to "go back to the drawing board".
The Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Independent joint administration leading Durham County Council has said they are tackling poverty and rejected Labour criticisms as "political posturing".
A poverty strategy and action plan has just been agreed by the council's cabinet, but Labour claims it goes "nowhere near" the scale of support needed to help people during the cost of living crisis.
Read more: Action plan offers 'routes out of poverty' and support in hardship
Councillor Angela Surtees, County Durham Labour’s shadow member for communities & social inclusion, said: "This document is a disgrace from start to finish.
"The council must go back to the drawing board and deliver something that reflects the scale of the poverty crisis people currently face, outline the real reasons behind it and offer real solutions to it.
"This strategy is meant to focus on people in freezing houses with empty kitchen cupboards and detail what we are doing and can do to help.
"For far too long our community and voluntary sectors have picked up the slack for the government.
"We heard from his own lips how the PM diverted funds from deprived areas to bolster affluent areas. Actions like this and over a decade of austerity and mismanagement of the economy is why we have such devastating poverty, but anyone reading the strategy would think it was solely down to Covid-19.”
Labour argues the plan rejects austerity as a major contributing factor to the communities' hardships and fails to address findings on County Durham's "left behind neighbourhoods".
Fellow Labour member Cllr Jake Miller said his request for a co-ordinated effort to tackle food poverty was rejected by the council coalition last September: “Here we are over a year later and I see no reference to a food poverty strategy or tackling food poverty, other than promoting healthy food and existing schemes.
"When people are hungry and desperate, they aren’t thinking about how healthy it is, they just need food.
“The plan talks of removing the stigma of poverty, rather than address its root cause. It talks about next year when people need help now, and it excuses the government of its role in creating a poverty crisis that will inevitably cost lives this winter.”
Durham Group Cllr Alan Shield, cabinet member for equality and inclusion, said: "Stating that 'this document is a disgrace from start to finish' takes aim at the hard-working council officers who undertook a comprehensive engagement exercise with a huge array of stakeholder groups to ensure that the council engages effectively with those people who are closely involved with the communities that are experiencing hardship.
"I am happy to directly address some of those issues raised, as I would have done in the cabinet meeting if Labour had bothered to turn up and ask.
"The poverty strategy and action plan is a comprehensive report that encapsulates all aspects of poverty. It includes a key action plan to support the Durham Food Partnership in delivering its strategy to alleviate food insecurity – this is multi-faceted and the partnership includes key organisations and services working together to ensure access to food."
He said the council supported people through the welfare assistance scheme and council tax support scheme, £11.5m financial support from the Government’s household support fund was distributed to partners including Durham foodbanks to help those in crisis, and work was underway to extend the Bread and Butter Thing.
He added the Poverty Action Steering Group worked with poverty-related organisations and approved £3.2m worth of council-funded support to projects tackling financial and food insecurity.
"Together, we focus on all aspects of poverty, doing everything that we can in our area, and lobbying central government for further financial support to address the inequalities across all areas of County Durham.
“This intelligence-led, evidence-based approach demonstrates how Durham County Council is addressing the poverty related issues across our county. This is recognised by other local authorities to be over and above what they are able to offer in the way of support.
“I urge all Durham councillors to get involved in supporting this vital work in our communities. That will make much more of a difference to those people who need help, in contrast to the continued political posturing by the Labour group leadership.”
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