Shared Sandwell allotments to help hard-up

Council staff are working on a plan to distribute excess produce over the next two years.

A pilot scheme is under way at the Brandhall Road allotments in Oldbury and it is expected that sharing will start in the autumn.

In total there are 1,575 allotment plots in Sandwell spread across 40 locations which could be used by the scheme.

The plan has echoes of the 'dig for victory' campaign in the Second World War in which gardeners were encouraged to grow food to tackle shortages.

Except that this time it will be used to help people who cannot afford to make ends meet.

The borough has high levels of poverty with more than half of residents living in the top 20 percent of the country's most deprived areas.

Low earnings add to the problem with full-time workers paid £93 less per week on average compared with the national figure.

Councillor Yvonne Davies, cabinet member responsible for social care and health, said: "The impact of the welfare reform, the general reduction in income and increases in costs being experienced by most people means that actions to maximise the value of your spending and minimise actual costs remains an important goal for everyone.

"Here in Sandwell we are doing what we can to ease the burden on people's pockets by encouraging partners and our communities to work together and help each other.

"There are some great projects in the pipeline that should make a real difference to people.

"We are testing new approaches and working with voluntary and community partners to deliver these initiatives."

Many of the most innovative proposals within the anti-poverty strategy are targeted at reducing food poverty.

These include an international food market to be based at the £430 million Midland Metropolitan Hospital in Smethwick for staff and patients to buy hot food and fresh produce.

'Shopping clubs' will be piloted to explore the benefits of buying in bulk and improvements will be made to existing kitchens so they can be used for community cooking.

Cooking demonstrations will be staged in public markets and classes will be offered focused on affordable recipes.

Elsewhere in the plan it is proposed to train library staff to provide quality advice and support around poverty and ensure they have resources at their fingertips to direct people to further support.

Other steps are outlined to help families maximise their income and to help people into employment.

A report to the council's cabinet, which is set to approve the proposals on Wednesday (SEP 2), states recent changes to the benefit cap and tax credits are likely to 'hit families very hard'.

Data taken from the last three years reveals 21 percent of Sandwell households are workless compared with 17 percent nationally.

And it states 33,100 families, both in and out of work, are receiving working tax credit, child tax credit or both.