THERE have been several reports in your newspaper recently about a proposed East Lancashire Racial Equality Council.

I think this is a grand idea, despite all the negative publicity.

I think the people who have been protesting about setting up such a council have an ulterior motive.

The fact that most of the protesters are from Burnley is very suspicious.

These antics make it imperative that an East Lancashire Council is established.

And that it is staffed with people who know what they are doing, and have the expertise to deal with the racism undermining the whole fabric of life in this area.

No longer would there be the factionalism that has bedevilled the Racial Equality Councils for the last 25 years.

No longer would there be a tea-drinking brigade to deal with things they have seldom understood.

No longer would we be blinded by glossy annual reports that say nothing.

No longer would parochialism have the upper hand.

And no longer would there be an inferior service and nought for our money.

An East Lancashire Council is the only way forward. Unfortunately, some people will have to be made redundant.

But these same people have had their chance to improve race relations and have failed because racism is more rampant now than it was before the Racial Equality Councils existed.

Give the job to those who know what they are doing.

In the long run, it will be cheaper and more effective.

HAROLD HOWORTH, Primrose Bank, Stacksteads, Bacup.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.