Scarborough: People forced to either heat or eat, report says

Some people in Scarborough are being forced to chose whether to "heat or eat", councillors have heard.

A meeting was also told up to "85% of North Yorkshire's most deprived residents" lived in the seaside town.

The figures came from an inquiry by Scarborough Council into the impact of the cost of living crisis.

The inquiry's report found the borough had the county's highest levels of homelessness and rough sleeping and "the poorest health outcomes".

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the investigation, led by Conservative councillor David Jeffels, also found Scarborough had the highest proportion of households living in fuel poverty.

A household is considered to be in fuel poverty if it has to spend 10% or more of its income on energy.

Evidence for the inquiry was collected from various sources and organisations, councillors were told.

Speaking at the meeting of Scarborough Council's scrutiny committee on Wednesday, Labour councillor Rich Maw said: "Since the cost of living crisis, there is definitely a point to be made that people are choosing whether to heat or eat, or they are seeing their children eat, but going without themselves."

He added that what had also emerged since the inquiry was "the good work already being done in the borough, in our parishes, through the churches, village halls, parish councils and other community organisations to bring people together".

At the meeting, independent councillor Guy Smith raised the impact of the cost of living constraints on mental health, including that of children, and asked how mental health had featured in the report.

Councillor Jeffels said the cost of living crisis had a clear "knock-on effect" on mental health.

He added: "If we can get the parents to seek out grants that are available to them, that in itself is going to benefit the youngsters in a family."

Recommendations made in the report included a call for Scarborough Council's cabinet to make a further one-off contribution of £25,000 to "support community and voluntary sector organisations".

The level of funding for providing warm spaces in the borough "continues to be reviewed and consideration is given to a further allocation", the report also said.

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