Examination of Witnesses (Question 119)
COUNCILLOR GORDON
BIRTWISTLE, MR
STEVE RUMBELOW,
COUNTY COUNCILLOR
DOREEN POLLITT
AND MS
JANE ABDULLA
4 MARCH 2008
Q119 Chair: I am not sure if you have
been here during the previous evidence session but quite a lot
of the questions we want to ask you now come out of those sessions
really and what the various groups were saying. I guess I would
like to highlight one of the main issues which seems to have come
out of both of the previous groups' evidence which is that many
of the tensions here in Burnley seem to come from perceptions
or realities that funding is not being allocated fairly. I would
like to ask you as councils what efforts you are making to be
transparent in your funding allocations and resource allocations?
Mr Rumbelow: That has undoubtedly
in the past been a particular problem. It is less of a problem
now but it is something that as a Council we recognise we cannot
be blase« about. Both councils recognise that our community
leadership is key to this issue, not least because much of it
is about perceptions, and the thing that drives most of the concerns
of communities, which was summed up in the last session very well,
is about looking at differences and where there are racial differences
the differences become racialised, so we are very clear that what
we have got to do is to communicate effectively why we are taking
the decisions we are taking, why resources are being invested
in the way they are being invested, and be open about a dialogue
around that.
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