Newcastle’s new City Council leader has vowed to tackle food and health inequality in the city.
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00:00Karen Kilgour, Newcastle's first female city council leader, has outlined her vision
00:05to tackle the major inequalities in the city.
00:07Hoping to put the council's past scandals firmly behind her, councillor Kilgour has
00:11vowed to improve people's health and reduce poverty levels she's described as shocking.
00:16Newcastle's child poverty rates are some of the region's worst, with over 40% of
00:20children in some West End areas growing up in states of deprivation.
00:23Whilst Ms Kilgour has applauded the investment in building the city's infrastructure, she
00:28stated that she wants to concentrate on the residents' health and wellbeing, stating
00:31that this is as important as shiny new buildings.
00:35The council have taken back control of over 25,000 council homes from Your Homes Newcastle
00:39over the summer, but councillor Kilgour wants to do more to tackle the social housing list,
00:44which is currently over 10,000 households.
00:47Whilst her party in Westminster continues to refer to tough choices needing to be made
00:51on spending, Ms Kilgour, a Fordham resident, hopes that Keir Starmer's team wouldn't
00:55overlook essential spending local councils need to make for their residents' welfare.