Criticism over no photo of BAME person in Redcar and Cleveland Council's magazine

A council says it is striving to be “fully inclusive” after a magazine it publishes was criticised for having no ethnic minorities in it.

Redcar and Cleveland resident Colin Harvey said he was struck after reading the latest issue of ‘This Is Redcar & Cleveland’ as he could not find one photo featuring an ethnic minority person.

Harvey said: “There are over 200 photographs of various people on its pages and not one single photo is of a BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) person, all are white. “In this day and age this is not acceptable.”

The council, which publishes the magazine three times a year for residents living in the borough, said it had in recent editions published articles and photographs featuring ethnic minority communities and people.

Government figures show that Redcar and Cleveland is one of the least ethnically diverse areas in England and Wales.

In the last census 98.5 per cent of the population were recorded as being ‘white’, ranking it as 173th least diverse of any local authority area.

Only the Isles of Scilly is less diverse with 98.8 per cent of its residents declaring themselves as white.

A spokesman for the council said: “The council is proud of being a fully inclusive local authority for all people of all backgrounds and our residents’ magazine aims to reflect all these people across our communities.

“The current edition of our council magazine is merely the latest and in recent editions has contained a number of articles and photographs featuring BAME communities and people, along with a range of people from other varied backgrounds.

“We will continue to highlight the brilliant work and achievements of people from all communities from across our borough in future editions and through our wider social media channels.”

(Local Democracy Reporting Service)