A Lancaster councillor has led calls for public buildings to be opened up as ‘warm banks’ during the winter, to help cope with the soaring cost of energy.
Green party representative Gina Dowding, who sits on Lancaster City Council for Marsh ward, and for Lancaster Central at Lancashire County Council, brought a motion calling for the authority
Lancashire County Council unanimously agreed to a cross party amended motion to formally create plans for the opening of ‘warm banks’, to help families as they fall into fuel poverty.
Cllr Dowding brought forward the motion calling for people to be given a warm public place to stay, should they need it, and criticised the government’s lack of action.
County Cllr Dowding said: “Food, shelter, warmth and community connections. These are basic human needs. Meeting those needs is what every civilised society should provide as essential to human dignity for all of its citizens, regardless of their income, job, ability, age or background.
“Yet this government has continually failed to introduce the policies that ensure these basic needs are met across the board for everyone at all times.
‘’Planning for the future, building resilient communities, responding quickly to challenges to creativity, is how our government should lead for 21st century peace and security.
‘’This week it has been distressing to hear the same tired old arguments from every candidate that wants to be our next prime minister. No plans to meet the urgent demands of the climate crisis and the cost of living crisis.
‘’Local authorities like ours are left to pick up the pieces.
‘’It is astonishing that as a society, in one of the richest counties in world, we’ve not managed to meet a minimum standard of equality, so every household can meet basic human needs.
“Warm banks are not the long-term solution to the cost of living crisis in the same way food banks aren’t either. But they are necessary until we have a government prepared to introduce economic, social and environmental justice.”
Cllr Dowding’s Green Party colleague, county councillor Andy Fewings, seconded the motion, adding:
“Data from the government’s ONS shows that nearly 10,000 people froze to death in their own homes in the winter of 2019-20. That’s before the data is skewed by the Covid pandemic.”
“National Energy Action says the number of households in fuel poverty since then has trebled and is now 6.5million households in the UK. When the energy cap was increased earlier this year, a woman in my division was so terrified that she wouldn’t be able to pay her bills that she stayed in the dark for seven days before she contacted me.
“It’s not just the bills, it’s the fear that these bills will keep coming and rising. This is a serious and urgent issue.’’
The county council will now work with lower tier authorities and voluntary organisations to identify locations and ensure that access to additional services and support are made available.
The matter will be discussed again later this month, with a formalised plan agreed in October.
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