Members of the public have grilled the council leader over the issue of racism in Wokingham, one year on from ‘controversial’ statements he made about the Black Lives Matter movement.

Councillor John Halsall, leader of Wokingham Borough Council, was fielding questions at a meeting of the council’s Executive Committee yesterday (Thursday, July 29).

People of Colour living in the borough and racial equality campaigners slammed Cllr Halsall for allegedly mishandling complaints over his comments about Black Lives Matter being a political movement and the Reading terror attack.

They also accused the council of disbanding the Wokingham Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Forum, which is meant to be headed by Cllr Parry Batth (Conservative, Shinfield North), the executive member for the environment and leisure.

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Cllr Halsall was first questioned by Liz Mayers, a resident of Wokingham, who said: “This time last year I was party to a group complaint, submitted by 76 Wokingham residents, about your conduct with regards your statement, comments and posts about Black Lives Matter and the tragic murders in Reading.  The complaint was first mislaid, then mixed up with other similar individual complaints and generally mis-handled.  Part of the resolution was you would under-go training about the key messages of your equality policy.  When did that happen, and what did you learn?”

Cllr Halsall (Conservative, Remenham, Wargrave and Ruscombe) answered: “I would disagree that your complaint was not dealt with effectively. I would refer you to numerous public statements I made last Summer where I apologised publicly for anyone upset I caused and sought to clarify my position. Personal letters were also sent to residents who had complained through the member code of conduct process. Since then I’ve carefully studied the Local Government Association equalities framework and spoke with many residents, officers and fellow members to help educate myself and others on how the council can improve and embed its approach to equalities.”

Bracknell News: Councillor John Halsall, Conservative leader of Wokingham Borough Council. Credit: Stewart TurkingtonCouncillor John Halsall, Conservative leader of Wokingham Borough Council. Credit: Stewart Turkington

Cllr Halsall used the formation of the borough’s Equality Strategy: Tackling Inequality Together, which was issued in March 2021, as evidence of the progress the council is making. He added: “This is not a hollow commitment to tick a box, rather it’s backed up by a comprehensive action plan, supported by officers across the council, to deliver real improvements for our residents and staff.”

Cllr Halsall was then questioned by Pol Exeter from Lower Earley, and a member of  the Aspire Community Interest Company (CIC), which engaged in an unsuccessful bid to buy Reading Central Club.

Mr Exeter asked: “The Sewell report claims that there is no racism in the UK and last week we saw this was a lie following the appalling response from racists towards black footballers.  We know racism exists and continues to exist in all walks of life including in Wokingham Borough.

“It has been over a year since I made a formal complaint relating to Wokingham Borough Council’s response to BLM and your response was that Equality is hardwired in Wokingham Borough Council’s DNA and you were committed to equality.  I note that there is currently no team leading equality initiatives anymore, the BME Forum has been disbanded and there has been no real commitment to understand the lives and experience of the 11 per cent, or 17,000 non-white population within Wokingham Borough Council’s administrative area.  What are you really doing to foster good community relationships and eliminate racism in the Borough?”

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Mr Exeter’s question was originally submitted by Kiran Narr, who accidentally wrote that there was 155,000 People of Colour living in the borough.

Cllr Halsall said: “It’s great to see you, and you’ve corrected the question, because 155,000 non-white population was a little erroneous.

Smiling, Mr Exeter said: “That would have been wonderful, wouldn’t it?”

Cllr Halsall replied: “It would be different.

“I refute the suggestion in the question that we have scrapped the BME Forum, indeed we haven’t, we are very keen to support the BME Forum to deliver on its objectives, purposes, and activities. We respect the desire of the forum to be autonomous and we will work in collaboration to understand the best way we can going forward.”

The Wokingham BME Forum remains an active part of the Wokingham Borough Council website, however, no meetings are scheduled until June 2022, according the council’s calendar of meetings.

Liz Mayers mentioned there had been a meeting prior to the Local Elections in May, but no meetings have occurred since then.

Bracknell News: Hundreds of people attended Black Lives Matter demonstrations in Forbury Gardens, Reading last year. Hundreds of people attended Black Lives Matter demonstrations in Forbury Gardens, Reading last year.

On the racist abuse England footballers had received, Cllr Halsall said: “I’ve spent much of my life engaged in sport, both doing it and coaching. I feel genuinely sorry for sportsmen and women who do not do as well as they might, but hey ho, we did get to the final of the Euros, which is quite an achievement! We need to celebrate the positives and not dwell on the negatives. Well done to the England football team, all of them.”

You can watch the entire executive committee meeting by clicking  ‘watch the meeting live here’ on the link to the meeting on the Wokingham Borough Council meetings calendar.