Anti-Poverty Strategy Proposed at Council Planning Committee meeting

The issue was discussed at a meeting of the council’s Governance and Strategic Planning committee in the Guildhall on Tuesday afternoon.

At the meeting, councillors discussed the department’s Hardship Fund, which was made available to provide non-recurrent financial support to the most vulnerable.

Council officers have previously held meetings with local food banks, social supermarkets, advice service providers, charities and others to identify priorities for the hardship scheme.

Council officials sought the endorsement of members for the allocation of an uplift on the funding budget as part of an extension of the scheme into the 2024/25 financial year, with an additional £34,200 made available for localised interventions, £60,000 extra for social supermarkets and £94,000 additional funding being allocated to targeted support for the Derry and Strabane Council catchment areas.

The allocation of this extra funding was endorsed by the member’s while being criticised for not doing enough to help those impacted by the cost of living crisis.

People Before Profit councillor Shaun Harkin said the Hardship Fund did not go “far enough”.

He proposed that council write to DfC Minister Gordon Lyons to get clarification on its anti-poverty strategy.

Cllr Harkin’s proposal states: “Council, along with anti-poverty campaigners, trade unions and many eager to see urgent action to address deprivation and inequality, are concerned at the lack of clarity from the DfC Minister and the Stormont Executive regarding the legal duty to implement an Anti-Poverty Strategy.

“Council will write to the DfC Minister seeking clarification on his plans to implement an Anti-Poverty Strategy with a ring fenced budget, and, to further clarify if he plans to incorporate the evidence based recommendations of the Anti-Poverty Strategy Expert Advisory Panel.

“Council will invite a representative of the Equality Coalition for a presentation.”

Sinn Fein councillor Christopher Jackson agreed with Cllr Harkin’s proposal.

He said: “While we want to see a strategy implemented as soon as possible, we're also mindful of the constraints that all government departments are operating on with in this part of Island and a lot of it is coming from and is being directed by a Tory party in London that are hellbent and driving a their austerity agenda that's the reality that we're in and we can't ignore that. 

“Yet, within the confines and the constraints that are there, we do need to see a strategy and we need to see it implemented and funded as soon as possible.”

SDLP councillor Rory Farrell also backed Cllr Harkin’s proposal.

He said: “Twenty-six years that's how long people in the north have been waiting for an overarching plan to address poverty, to address deprivation and 26 years it's a pretty long time. So anything that can be done to improve the standard of living for people living across this city and District we should be championing that. 

“Storment has a responsibility. Storment has the budget, they just need to get on with it.”

Cllr Harkin’s proposal was approved by the members.