Luton Borough Council aims to create 'a town built on fairness'

A council said it was "determined to make change" happen, more than a year after a Black Lives Matter motion was passed.

Luton Borough Council said it wanted to create "a town built on fairness" and have a workforce that "reflects the town's community".

Since the motion was passed in January 2021, the authority said it had "increased recruitment from ethnic minority communities by 2%".

But some people said more was needed.

Soraya Bowen, co-chair of the United Luton Caribbean and African Committee, said she had not seen "any significant changes".

"It's just been a bit of a slow burner," she said.

Ms Bowen said the town needed to look at its job prospects, particularly for "young people within our community".

"Luton is an amazing town to live," she said.

"There are opportunities - but are those opportunities available to young Africans and Caribbeans living in the town?"

Ms Bowen said after moving from London to the Bedfordshire town she had "seen the under-representation".

"Coming from London, where there was access to so much as a young person from a Caribbean heritage and then coming out here, I noticed that disparity," she said.

Jacqui Burnett, vice chairwoman of the African Caribbean Community Development Forum, helped present the Black Lives Matter motion to the council.

She said the idea came about after the protests regarding the death of George Floyd in the United States and the subsequent protests.

"We wanted to do something different," she said.

"We wanted to put something in writing that was beyond rhetoric."

Ms Burnett said the council had been engaging with local people, holding forums across the town and having conversations with schools.

"These sort of things take time," she said.

"It's a journey. The community didn't think anything would change overnight."

Ms Burnett said it was necessary for local authorities to "step up and safeguard our society".

Hazel Simmons, Labour leader of Luton Borough Council, said "a lot" had happened since the motion was passed.

"The biggest criticism we used to have was that our senior management team did not reflect the diversity of our town - which was a fair criticism," she said.

"Over the last year we've actually recruited more people at management level from ethnic minority communities than broader communities."

Ms Simmons said the council had also "introduced a quality, diversity and inclusion board that works with our staff".

"We are determined to make change," she said.

"Our whole Luton 2040 vision is about changing life chances for people that live here and that's what we're determined to do."

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