A combination of Labour and Liberal councillors collaborated on the concept, which failed to pass. Other initiatives such as RBC’s LGBTQ survey have shown genuine community concern for crime against LGBTQ individuals and the wider community – a concern that the whole council expressed concern about.

The scheme was for council staff to act as visible support as a response to a report commissioned by RBC and Warwickshire Pride which showed that hate crime in Rugby was 50% higher than the national average.

Cllr Maggie O’Rourke (Lab Benn) said: “We were all shocked by how many people who responded to Warwickshire Pride’s survey had experienced discrimination. “One of the ways that we as a council could be more inclusive would be to introduce the Rainbow Lanyards Scheme which has been successful when it has been adopted in the health service and universities. It’s a simple, opt-in scheme that shows the wearer is an advocate for LGBT rights, is someone who people from that community can talk to and a great way of showing solidarity and promoting diversity.

Labour Councillor, Mike Brader, “I’ve never been as disappointed leaving the council chamber as I was when this proposal was voted down on Tuesday.”

“Fly-tipping is one of the most common problems people contact their councillors about. If it is done on council property then it can be cleared up quickly, but the issue is complicated when people dump items on other people’s property, leaving residents with the option of either hoping it disappears of its own accord or dipping into their own pockets to get someone else’s mess cleaned up. We thought it was only fair that if we could create a pot of money for each ward, we could tackle these problems quicker and without causing financial loss to residents. Combining this with fining those who are found to be fly-tipping and greater education about recycling and removing unwanted items, we hoped this would lead to a decrease in fly-tipping across Rugby.

Labour also hoped to put up to £6,000 of the budget towards tackling discrimination towards the LGBT+ community in Rugby, in the wake of a report commissioned by Rugby Borough Council and carried out by Warwickshire Pride, which found that almost 50% of respondents have experienced discrimination on the basis of their sexuality or gender, and that Rugby is generally not thought to be an LGBT+ friendly place.

Cllr Maggie O’Rourke (Benn) said:

“We were all shocked by how many people who responded to Warwickshire Pride’s survey had experienced discrimination. It was also telling that 63% of respondents thought that there need to be more services for LGBT+ people in the borough. One of the ways that we as a council could be more inclusive would be to introduce the Rainbow Lanyards Scheme which has been successful when it has been adopted in the health service and universities. . It’s a simple, opt-in scheme that shows the wearer of the rainbow lanyard is an advocate for LGBT+ rights and a great way of showing solidarity and promoting diversity. It was disappointing that our proposals were voted down as this is an issue that is really important for so many people.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Warwickshire Pride’s Rugby LGBT+ Needs Survey Report can be found at http://www.warwickshirepride.co.uk/research/4593757562

A recent report by Warwickshire Pride, which was commissioned by Rugby Borough Council, has identified issues where the LGBT+ Community has suffered an unacceptable level of prejudice in Rugby Borough. Furthermore, Warwickshire Pride have confirmed that Rugby is the only local authority in Warwickshire to commission this kind of report and tackle these issues ‘head on’.

Immediately, council officers took action and met with senior officer and HR representatives as well as the Equality & Diversity Panel which met before the budget to discuss the issues and adopt an action plan proposed by Warwickshire Pride and EQUIP. An initial operational budget of £5,000 was set aside to meet any costs of the action plan.

This Tuesday 26th February, Rugby Borough Council set its budget for the coming year. The Rugby Labour Party issued a budget amendment at 5:14pm with the meeting starting at 7pm, with the following TWO items (and ONLY these two items);

(a) £16,000 to be set aside at £1,000 per ward. These will be allocated to ward level schemes and works that will include tackling graffiti hotspots, fly tipping and other localised issues that need small scale but priority intervention. This is a pilot scheme and will be evaluated to ensure its effectiveness and impact. This cost will be met from 2018/19 general fund revenue underspends.

(b) £6,000 to support a LGBT and Rainbow Lanyards and Advocacy Scheme in 2019-20 . This cost will be met from 2018/19 general fund revenue underspends.

During the debate, Labour explained that they thought the lanyards would set a ‘good example’ to council officers and the Advocacy Scheme would ‘give more training to council officers’. There was no discussion around tackling the issues identified in our communities by Warwickshire Pride. There had been no discussion with key officers around these measures, how effective they would be and the plan already adopted.

Following officers advice, I explained in Council that we would follow the professional advice and guidance offered by Warwickshire Pride and EQUIP in tackling these issues as a matter of urgency. Labour acknowledged there had been no discussion with key officers, and this was un-costed and were unaware of the meeting which had taken place as no questions were asked of the relevant officers.

This is not a political issue – as Leader of Rugby Borough Council I clearly stated and repeat my comments that ‘even one case of discrimination is one too many and we must do everything in our power to identify the issues and work with our expert partners to resolve them’.

After the meeting, the Labour Party then issued a separate press release which bears no relation to their budget amendment or the debate.

More details can be found here;

To view the survey; https://www.wcava.org.uk/…/20…/11/29/rugby-lgbt-needs-survey

The Warwickshire Pride Report; http://www.warwickshirepride.co.uk/…/Rugby%20LGBT+%20Needs%…