Bridging the Gap

Founded by the Duke of Richmond, whose Goodwood House home is in West Sussex, the Sussex Community Foundation has been active for ten years, raising charitable funds and distributing them throughout the county. It has made grant awards totaling over £8 million to more than 1,500 community groups and is currently administering a fund of a further £11 million.

Today, three years after its inaugural report into deprivation, the foundation has published Sussex Uncovered 2: Bridging the Gap and it notes that there is “huge disparity between different parts of Sussex.” Drawn from the Government’s own 2015 Indices of Multiple Deprivation, the report reveals that, despite its perceived wealth, Sussex has 26 wards in the top 20% most deprived in England, and Hastings is the 20th most deprived district out of 326 in the country. In terms of health deprivation, the data reveals that in some urban areas there is a nine-year difference in adult male life expectancy between the most and least deprived wards.

However, despite some large population concentrations in coastal towns, deprivation in Sussex is not confined to those urban areas. 25% of people in Sussex live in rural areas, higher than the English average of 17.6%, and for people there the most significant indicator of the economic downturn and subsequent government policy is that the average wage in Sussex is the lowest in the south east and below the average for England. This means that people living on low incomes in countryside areas face disadvantage in terms of transport and affordable housing and, although the level of homelessness has reduced in some urban areas such as Brighton and Hove, there has been an increase in rural areas such as Wealden.

Sussex has an unusually high elderly population, which accounts for some of the disparities in health and income deprivation; but it is the levels of child poverty that are the starkest indicators of a county of extremes. In some parts of Mid Sussex, less than 1% of children are growing up in poverty, a figure way below the 22% average for England. This is contrasted with many areas of East Sussex which are way above average: in parts of Eastbourne, 39% of children are in poor households; in Sidley, 47% live in poverty; and in one area of Hastings the level of child poverty is an astonishing 75%.

When the Sussex Community Foundation was set up, its founder called the levels of deprivation in Sussex “a scandal”. Ten years on, that a wealthy county in the south east of England can allow this situation to exist is just as scandalous. As the report notes, “the Government’s austerity policies have started to have a real impact on the lives of people in our communities and on the charities and community groups that support them.” Despite doing important work, organisations such as the Sussex Community Foundation cannot hope to stem the tide of deprivation and, unless cuts to mainstream services are reversed soon, the situation will not improve.

'Sussex Uncovered 2: Bridging the Gap' can be read here.

New Dawn Fades

It seemed like a chink of light: last month, the Conservative leader of East Sussex County Council, supported by the leaders of all of the other political groups on the council, wrote a letter to the Prime Minister decrying the fact that cuts to services being handed down by central government would begin to hurt swathes of ordinary people. Councillor Keith Glazier outlined to David Cameron that there were no choices left to make: important frontline services were being cut.

The authority has already made cuts of more than £78 million since 2010 but must now make a further £90 million of cuts by April 2019, including £40 million from its adult social care budget. The Council has now raised its council tax by 4%, including a 2% levy to be spent on adult social care services, and has withdrawn funding from sheltered housing projects, adoption and fostering services, and voluntary groups providing support to the vulnerable. In an area with an ageing population these cuts would, in Councillor Glazier’s words, “significantly reduce the quality of life for many people in East Sussex”.

It was perhaps David Cameron who started this quiet Tory rebellion himself. In November of last year, he hilariously wrote to the leader of his own local Conservative county council complaining about cuts to day centres, libraries and museums in Oxfordshire. The Prime Minister urged the council to make back-office savings, instead; there are none left to make, came back the reply. Then Cameron’s aunt and mother weighed in to the debate, the former calling cuts to children’s services in the area “a great error” and the latter signing a protest petition. And rumblings of discontent were heard in other Tory shires as austerity suddenly looked like something that does not just happen to other people.

If we thought this heralded a new dawn of protest amongst Conservatives, it quickly faded. With a Commons vote on the local government finance settlement imminent, a £300m relief fund was announced last week to buy off a number of Tory MPs gearing up to vote against the government. In a blatant act of nepotism, this extra money will mostly be going to Tory-run counties in the south of England: analysis shows that 83% of the two-year fund will benefit Tory areas. Whilst the most deprived councils in the country – all Labour run – will receive nothing, Cameron’s Oxfordshire will receive £9m and East Sussex £5.44 million. This may have headed off disquiet for now – the amounts of relief are small compared to the scale of cuts to be delivered – but local Tories will need to develop stronger spines if they are to stand up for ordinary people.

Libraries Gave Us Power

One of my most vivid and abiding memories of childhood is walking with my sisters, on cold winter evenings, through the estate where we grew up, to the library at its centre. It is more than likely that my mum simply wanted us out of the house at a time of year when early darkness prevented playing out in the street. I was grateful to be banished from the house, though: the library was a magical place and I can still recall the thrill of being issued with my own borrowing card for the first time.

As I got older, the library became even more important to me: I often think that, because of the chaos of my 1970s comprehensive school, I received a better education in my local Council-run library. It was from there that I borrowed books by Dickens, Greene and Orwell that my dad had suggested to me. We were a reading family and there were always books at home when I was growing up but most of them came from the library; as in most working class families at that time, the only books I was bought were for birthday or Christmas presents.

Today, technology has made reading more accessible and books are cheaper to buy but, for a lot of people in austerity Britain, they are still relatively expensive. When there are mouths to feed, spending £30 on three of four books is a luxury. That is why our public libraries are just as important as ever, particularly for the young and the elderly. Whenever I visit my local library in Hailsham it is always busy with people accessing books and information technology.

However, since the massive cuts to local government spending begun by George Osborne in 2010, libraries have been under attack all over the country. The Daily Mirror reported yesterday that, in 2015, the equivalent of two libraries were permanently closed every week and spending on library services was cut by £50 million. With the exception of Pevensey Bay library - closed a year ago due to flooding and, mysteriously, still not re-opened - so far in my area, libraries have not suffered from large-scale cuts. However, that might be about to change.

As part of £90 million of cuts over the next three years, Tory-controlled East Sussex County Council wants to reduce library spending by £500,000 this year by cutting opening hours at all 24 libraries in the county by 25%. Although no closures are planned yet, with a further £1.5 million of savings to be identified in the following two years, this is clearly the first step in diminishing the library service in East Sussex and should be opposed; libraries should not be sacrificed in the name of austerity. Consultation on the proposals begins tomorrow and you can find details, and have your say, here.

It is important to fight to protect our libraries as they are transformative places: for those who are isolated, they provide a connection to the world; for those who realise the value of education and knowledge, they are empowering; for those with seemingly limited opportunities, they are a gateway to a better life. And they have great books.

Stronger Together

Having allocated £40m of its budget on the road to nowhere – the Bexhill/Hastings Link Road – East Sussex County Council is now gearing up to saving £60m over the next three years by cutting services used by the most vulnerable in the county. The fact that it is sitting on reserves of over £400m make the decision that they are preparing to take at the next meeting of the full Council all the more scandalous.

Under the budget proposals cooked up by the Council’s cabinet committee, children with special needs, disabled people, victims of domestic violence, older people, young people at risk, young parents and the homeless will all have services reduced or cut. If you look at the make-up of the cabinet – white, middle-class and middle-aged down to a man (and I mean that literally; no women, let alone a young person or someone from a different background) – it does go some way to explaining how a decision that requires such a lack of empathy could be made. That, and the fact that over the past two years it has been made clear from the very top: it is the same old nasty Tory party attacking the weakest targets they can find.

However, Lewes Stop the Cuts, a coalition of individuals, trade unions, charities, students and community groups, is committed to fighting these cuts to public services. A lobby of the next Council meeting is being held on Tuesday 12th February. Any individuals or organisations who can support this lobby should meet at the main entrance to County Hall, Lewes from 9am onwards to let the councillors know that those they think are the weakest are - together - the strongest.