A stark message has been given to councillors in Mid Sussex as they voted to approve a new scheme.
“Where we see any form of inequality or contravention of legislation we should call it out. This kind of thing has to stop. It’s unacceptable in 2020 and beyond.”
This was the message to Mid Sussex councillors as they voted to approve the Equality and Diversity Scheme 2020-24.
Norman Webster, cabinet member for community, presented the scheme to fellow councillors at a meeting on Wednesday (July 22).
They also followed in the footsteps of more than 200 other councils by adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of anti-Semitism.
Mr Webster said the policy, which was first adopted in 2016, was something which was ‘used on a daily basis and embedded in everything we do as a council’.
Under the Equality Act 2010, the council must aim to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation, build equal opportunities for all, and build relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.
The protected characteristic are: age, sex, race, disability, religion or belief, pregnancy & maternity, sexual orientation, marriage & civil partnership, and gender reassignment.
Robert Eggleston, (Lib Dem, Burgess Hill – Meeds), who entered politics as ‘a mere youth’ in the 1970s, reflected on how far things had come.
He said:
“In the past – even a decade ago – you may never have seen a report like this, certainly not two or three decades ago.
“It really is comforting and reassuring and the council is to be commended for adopting this policy in all of its forms.”
By Karen Dunn, Local Democracy Reporter.
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