Calls to revive equality panel in Bath to provide 'voice' for minorities

Councillors say the panel will set its own set of priorities

Fresh efforts are being made to revive a race equality panel which was stopped due to a lack of council funding.

Bath and North East Somerset Council hopes to get independent groups, residents and councillors involved.

Labour councillor Grant Johnson said: "We want the authority to be a safe space for people to live and work and we want to see the end of racism."

Mr Johnson, who proposed the idea, says he hopes to see the panel set up within a year and appropriately funded.

A motion was put forward and unanimously agreed at the full council meeting on Thursday.

'Balanced mix'

He hoped the panel would be a "strong voice", but the remit and framework would be up to the council to decide.

He said: "It would have to have a certain amount of money for the running of it but I'm sure any members of that panel would be doing it on a voluntary basis."

The panel would be a "balanced mix" of people who can help "move race equality forward".

The Bath and North East Somerset Race Equality Council was set up in 2001, but dissolved 13 years later.