£140,000 Central Bedfordshire ‘project’ to help struggling families hasn’t helped anyone yet say councillors

A local authority spent £140,000 on a project to help families struggling financially, according to independent Central Bedfordshire councillors.

But despite a four-month information gathering exercise, Central Bedfordshire Council has yet to offer a penny of support for those most in need, say councillors.

The local authority set up a "fairness task force" last December to investigate how it could help families struggling with bills.

Labour Parkside councillor Antonia Ryan called for a proactive approach asking for a working party to take a stand against inequalities and attempt to eradicate them.

Her appeal won support at a full council meeting. The task force would examine education, economic resilience and housing, according to councillor Ryan.

"There would be renewed focus on improving educational achievement, creating opportunities for rewarding work and providing access to high-quality housing," she said.

The council decided the key aims were to create ways of helping people out of poverty and to prevent them falling into financial hardship in the first place, said Independent Aspley and Woburn councillor John Baker in a newsletter on local issues.

"A committee of councillors was arranged, although it was made clear that the chairman would need to be a Conservative.

"This committee set up a series of sessions where local residents and charitable or voluntary organisations were interviewed during the summer. CBC used a third party to consultant to arrange these events.

"When an update on the plans came before a CBC committee, Independent councillors were critical of the jargon used."

Councillor Baker described some of the material as "meaningless", while Independent Flitwick councillor Gareth Mackey "strongly urged that the presentation be put into plain English".

CBC Stotfold and Langford councillor Steve Dixon, said: “Making Central Bedfordshire a great place to live and work for everyone is top of our agenda.

"Although many of our residents appear to be thriving, that isn’t the case for everyone who lives here. And that isn’t good enough.

"We're determined to support the most challenged and vulnerable in our communities. We want to create opportunities for everyone in the area, making sure that nobody is left behind, and are putting safeguards in place to avoid that.

“The "fairness task force", which is made up of councillors from all political parties, was given unanimous approval to be formed to oversee and support this work.

"Funding was also agreed for expert external support to help with the research," added councillor Dixon, CBC's executive member for sustainability and transformation.

"The task force was established last December before the recent rising costs of living and is designed to identify initiatives that will make a lasting difference.

“The recommendations from this important work with our residents, communities, charitable and voluntary sector organisations will be considered by our executive committee at its next meeting in October.”

The local authority has announced the departure of its head of transformation, Ed Garcez. CBC said it needs “to ensure the number of management posts strikes the right balance between effective delivery and financial cost”. His salary band was £130,000 to £134,999 per year.