New city council leader vows to tackle major inequalities in Newcastle as top priority

Karen Kilgour says combating poverty rates in the city and improving the standard of council houses are among the key aims of her new administration

The first woman ever to lead Newcastle City Council says she wants to be judged on tackling the major inequalities on Tyneside.

Karen Kilgour, who was confirmed last week as Nick Kemp’s successor at the helm of Newcastle Labour, has pinpointed boosting the health and wellbeing of the city’s poorest as her top priority in office.

Newcastle has some of the worst child poverty rates in the region, with more than 40% of children in some areas of the West End growing up in deprivation. The average age that women and men stop living in good or very good health is more than five years before the state pensionable age, while the difference in life expectancy between the worst-off and wealthiest parts of the city has been estimated at more than 10 years.

In her first interview as council leader, Coun Kilgour told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that she wants to see “more cranes in the sky and more investment in the city”, but that improving people’s health and combating “shocking” poverty levels are her main goals.

The 55-year-old said: “In amongst all these good inward investment projects we are seeing and I hope we see in the future, I want there to be a real emphasis on tackling the health inequalities and disparities we see across the city. I want us to be able to concentrate on the health and wellbeing of our residents, because that is as important as shiny new buildings.

“For me, it is also really important as the first female leader of the council to make sure we are seeing things from a woman’s perspective. So that when we are planning something we are thinking about people’s safety, about ease of access, all of those considerations that I think would be nice to have come to the forefront.”

With the local authority having taken back control over around 25,000 council houses from Your Homes Newcastle this summer, Coun Kilgour said that ensuring people have decent homes to live in is a key priority for her. The council is also grappling with how to meet the demands of a huge social housing waiting list, which stood this July at almost 10,000 households.

The new leader added: “We need to make sure the properties we own as a council are the best they can be – some of that will be through retrofitting and helping people to reduce fuel bills, some will be through tackling damp and mould where it exists, and some will be that we have some properties are are quite old now and need significant work doing to them. But I would hope that we would see significant building in the city in order to meet the housing need that we have, both social housing and properties to buy because we need both.”

The 55-year-old, a native of Fawdon, is well-versed in the financial crisis facing local councils across the country that has seen Newcastle City Council forced to cut £369 million from its budgets since 2010. She followed her dad Peter Laing, a former lord mayor who served as a councillor for 40 years, into local politics and has overseen matters including adult social care during her time in the authority’s cabinet.

The mum-of-two also worked for the council for 22 years – starting on the poll tax helpline, before going onto work in areas including housing and regeneration. She vowed to lobby the Labour government for “fairer” funding for the city and for longer-term grants that would offer councils far greater certainty in their financial planning. As Labour ministers continue to come under fire for cuts to the winter fuel allowance and warn of more “tough choices” to come, Coun Kilgour said she retained faith that Sir Keir Starmer’s administration would come to the aid of councils.

She told the LDRS: “I think Government understands that you cannot deliver any of their priorities without local government. We need to be at the forefront of almost everything they want to deliver and I think government know that. We have had to make very, very difficult decisions [since 2010] because we have to balance the books, so I understand the position they are in.”

Join our Breaking News and Top Stories WhatsApp community

Join our Breaking News and Top Stories WhatsApp community for all the latest news direct to your phone.

To join you need to have WhatsApp on your device. All you need to do is choose which community you want to join, click on the link and press 'join community'.

No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the ChronicleLive team.

We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners.

If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.

If you’re curious, you can read our privacy notice.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN