A Conservative councillor has been criticised over his assertion that diversity was something he did not agree with - and should not be an objective of the Council.

Coun. Chris Steward made the unlikely outburst as Chair of the council’s Effective Organisation Scrutiny Committee, and when asked to retract his remark, refused to do so.

Labour committee member Coun. David Scott said he was taken aback by his fellow councillor’s arrogance, commenting:
“This Council has already recognised that its workforce is failing to reflect the community it represents and is striving to move forward to an “excellent” rating in this area.  Coun. Steward, like all councillors, is supposed to promote diversity as a key objective of the Council.  How he expects people to interpret his comment is anyone’s guess, but mine was that he places no value on difference, and presumably wishes to see a society of clones”.
And bizarrely, Coun. Steward is his Group’s named substitute on the Council’s Equality Advisory Group (EAG).
 
“His openly prejudiced outlook is breathtaking”, adds Coun. Scott.  “One of the functions of the committee he chairs is to oversee the implementation of the Council’s diversity objective, in this case in relation to its workforce.  Given this statement, his position as Chair of that committee is untenable and he should now do the decent thing and resign.  If he does not do so, his leader needs to sack him as Chair and send him on a diversity awareness course as a priority”.

Coun. Gerard Hodgson also sits on the committee, and challenged the Chair to retract his comments.  He says:
“In considering the Workforce Plan report at yesterday’s meeting, I was surprised and extremely disappointed to hear the Chair’s views.  Our workforce is a diverse one and I’m sure staff will see this as a rather unsavoury thing to say when the council is an organisation that values difference.  At least it does as a Labour council.
“Coun. Steward should do the right thing and resign from his position, if he is unable to afford staff and residents the respect they deserve”.