Cost of living emergency declared in Worthing

The motion was put forward by Labour’s deputy leader Carl Walker and was seconded by cabinet member for citizen services Emma Taylor.

It says that ‘12,000 Worthing residents are living in food insecurity’ with ‘almost a quarter of Worthing children living in poverty’.

The motion was accepted by the full council on Tuesday (July 19) and it commits the council to drawing up an ’emergency strategy’ to address cost of living pressures faced by residents.

The council has also agreed to write to the government to ask for support for renters and low income households; including making the now scrapped £20 Universal Credit uplift permanent and suspending no fault evictions.

Mr Walker said he would make ‘no apologies’ for his scathing criticism of national government, and while it was ‘regrettable that we now have to pick up this mess as a local authority’ he asked how they would do that when their budget had been slashed over the last decade.

Hazel Thorpe (LDem, Tarring) said she was sad that the cost of living crisis was being ‘used as a political football’.

She explained that she brought an almost carbon copy of the motion to a meeting in 2020 and was ‘appalled at the length of time it has taken to get to this stage’.

Adur and Worthing Councils face having to make £2.7 million of savings by the end of March 2023, so there are limited resources.

It led other councillors to question how declaring a cost of living emergency would help those in need.

Steve Waight (Con, Goring) pointed out that motions to the council are ‘declarative’ and ‘do not incur any actual spending’.

Dan Humphreys (Con, Offington) criticised Mr Walker for ‘failing to mention’ the cost of living support package from central government, which sees direct payments to families and a ‘discretionary’ award of £200,000 for Worthing Borough Council to distribute as it sees fit.

He told Labour: “It is now time to pull your fingers out.”

Council leader Beccy Cooper said the motion would allow the council to put a plan in place.