Political group leaders at Warwickshire County Council are set to meet this week to discuss what can be done to address increasing cost of living pressures.

It follows a call to arms from Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Jerry Roodhouse last week amid soaring fuel prices and the wider ripple effect they could have on the back of the war in the Middle East. 

Cllr Roodhouse told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that leader Cllr George Finch had been "keen" to progress the idea of a cross-party summit that also has the support of other opposition parties.

The call urged Warwickshire County Council, the county's five district and borough councils, businesses, charities and community groups to "come together to coordinate a robust and immediate response" to the challenges.

And while Cllr Roodhouse acknowledged that the council has no influence on rocketing fuel prices, he believes existing services could be honed through better coordination of things like foodbanks and cost-of-living advice.

Ideas include more access to warm spaces and food banks, working with energy providers and groups to improve access to advice, grants and efficiency schemes, supporting local food networks to address affordability, engaging with local businesses to mitigate cost pressures and protect jobs and lobbying central government to increase funding and targeted support for off-grid energy users in Warwickshire.

"We cannot do much about petrol and diesel prices but we can give advice, help people and coordinate that help," said Cllr Roodhouse.

"The county council is very good at that, as it was in Covid. It is not quite a reinvention of what happened then but we want to get some of that going again, working with voluntary groups across Warwickshire. 

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"We have been warned already that we can't make any big spending commitments, which is fine, but if you can coordinate the services with the districts, boroughs and parish councils, with everyone focusing together you can actually make quite a big impact without that extra cost.

"It is about getting the messages to the people who need them and identifying the communities that need the extra help. 

"A lot of that stuff is going on already but it is underground. With foodbanks, I know a lot of good work is happening in Rugby but we don't see that full picture of where you can go for a lunch or food support. We can do all of that without spending loads of money."

Leading figures from across the political spectrum will thrash out how to go about work that Cllr Roodhouse hopes "to see us start moving on in April and May".

He also stressed that it was necessary to "look forward to the winter and the pressures that come through" in the long term and welcomed the commitment to cross-party working, stating it was "how it should be on this subject".

"You have to come together and rise above party politics for the good of the residents of Warwickshire," he concluded.