A LANDMARK vision aimed at ultimately making York a poverty-free city is to be put into action, after being approved by city leaders.

Targets for the next two years are laid out in a groundbreaking strategy drawn up by organisations across the city and backed by City of York Council’s cabinet last night.

York is looking to lead the way on battling deprivation and inequality and aims to set an example for the rest of the UK.

Among the key aims is ensuring York is an “affordable city”, where families on low incomes have access to essential goods and services, house prices and rent levels are within reach of more residents, and affordable transport is provided to help people get to work.

The York Poverty Action Group, which drew up the targets adopted by the cabinet, includes City of York Council, The Press, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, church representatives, the NHS, the Citizens Advice Bureau, the South Yorkshire Credit Union and the York Economic Partnership.

The strategy outlines the importance of making tackling poverty an issue for everybody in York and identifies how city-wide initiatives can meet its aims.

The report has won a degree of backing from all political parties.

Research has found that 13,795 York residents – including 4,575 children – live in areas classed as among the 20 per cent most deprived in the UK.

The research also revealed a widening pay gap, rising long-term and youth unemployment, high property prices that have made buying a home impossible for many, and a life expectancy gap between York’s rich and poor of up to ten years.

Council leader James Alexander said: “In agreeing the vision for a poverty-free York, we have underlined the council’s commitment to improve the lives of some of our most vulnerable residents, and it also shows the level of our ambition – York is now the only city in the country which has pledged to become poverty-free.

“Achieving a poverty-free city will only be possible with the help of our partners, particularly those on the York Poverty Action Group.

“We are looking at both short and long-term initiatives to tackle the issues head-on, including promoting adoption of the living wage, addressing stigma around poverty, extending GP advice surgeries, working with the CAB on money advice and promoting take up of free school meals.

“It’s early days and we know there is a long way to go, but the momentum which has already been achieved shows just how committed we are to making York poverty-free.”

The strategy has listed eight themes, including addressing the stigma of poverty and putting York at the vanguard of anti-poverty work across the UK.

Its targets include cutting unemployment by 40 per cent over three years, securing 1,000 new private-sector jobs a year, encouraging more businesses to pay employees a “living wage”, more financial education in schools, and increasing the number of residents seeking advice on poverty issues.