Wokingham Council admits BME Forum has been suspended

The Wokingham Black and Minority Ethnic Forum was established in 2007/08 to raise issues minorities are facing in the borough.

During a Wokingham Borough Council meeting, members of the public accused the council of “disbanding” the forum.

Now, a spokesperson for the council admitted that the forum was suspended last year.

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The council spokesperson said: “In September last year the activities of the Black and Minority Ethnic Forum (BME) Forum were suspended to allow for a comprehensive review of its purpose and objectives.

“The council is keen to support the continuation of ways to provide a voice for ethnic minority residents, and as outlined within the recently published Equalities Plan, has commissioned an external review of the BME Forum.

“This review includes one to one interviews and focus groups to truly understand how the forum wants to deliver on its objectives, purpose, and activities.

“The review is expected to be completed soon and its findings shared with the forum and other stakeholders, to assist it in deciding what next steps it wants to take in the future.”

The suspension of the forum followed the resignation of its chairman, Ramnik Saud in September last year.

The forum was then steered by vice-chairman councillor Parry Batth (Conservative, Shinfield North), who at the time stated that the forum must be independent of the council, yet no replacement chairman has been forthcoming.

Supporters of Black Lives Matter at a protest in Forbury Gardens, Reading last year.

Jeffrey Hinds, from Woodley, a community activist and a founding member of the Wokingham BME Forum said: “The BME Forum has done some great things, it built bridges, it brought Black History Month to Wokingham, and it was a great meeting point. For example, we had representatives of the NHS meeting with us to discuss issues such as Female Genital Mutilation.

“It was fantastic and I was very happy to be a founding member of it. I’m not happy with how it ended. The other thing is how it was suspended.

“There was no document or constitutional act closing it, it was just stopped. It’s not officially wound up. The council needs to demonstrate a straightforward attitude to it, because a lot of hard work has been done, including from council officers.”

Race relations became an issue when Cllr John Halsall (CON, Remenham, Wargrave and Ruscombe), the leader of Wokingham Borough Council made comments deemed unsupportive of Black Lives Matter last year.

On the rough anniversary of his statements, Cllr Halsall was criticised Liz Mayers, from Wokingham, for the handling of an official complaint against him by 76 residents.

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Liz Mayers implied that conversations between the council and members of the BME community had taken place, but a commitment to hold a further meeting after the May local elections had not been honoured.

Cllr Halsall batted away suggestions the BME Forum had been ‘disbanded’, despite the council’s spokesperson’s statement about the group’s suspension.  Cllr Halsall said: “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.” He answered the questions at an executive committee meeting on Thursday, July 29.

The Wokingham BME Forum remains a functioning part of the Wokingham Borough Council website despite its suspension.

There will be an update on the existence of the BME Forum once the external review is completed.

You can view the council’s Equalities Plan here