Why Walsall needs to end its tribalism

The council's public services scrutiny panel identified the need to form a 'community cohesion group' in June last year.

Members of the scrutiny panel said the borough had been targeted by right-wing extremists, who were attempting to build mistrust, fear and ultimately hatred amongst communities.

The group gave its first report back to the committee on Thursday, with Councillor Ian Shires claiming that too many people will categorise themselves as being from a particular town rather than Walsall as a whole.

He said: "Walsall is a borough with a long history of diverse communities settling here and becoming an integral part of this proud and historic town.

"There is also a history, in the main, of acceptance and good community relations.

"The residents of Walsall do often identify themselves as belonging to a district area of the town, for example Bloxwich, Willenhall, Brownhills, Streetly or Aldridge.

"There are historic reasons for this parochial thinking and that sense of pride has many positives but it does have a negative impact where cohesion is concerned.

"This is due to people choosing not to mix with other residents from other areas of the borough and thus limiting their experiences and exposure to "others".

"This creates challenges when the one Walsall community vision is being promoted."

The borough's increasing multi-culturalism was also discussed at the meeting, with it being claimed that more needs to be done to celebrate the diverse communities who form Walsall in 2016.

The latest school data indicates that this year, over 137 languages are spoken in Walsall schools.

The percentage differences of white and BME groups in different Walsall towns is also wide ranging.

Areas like Palfrey have a 62 per cent BME majority, while in Aldridge and Walsall Wood, the white percentage is 95 per cent.

Councillor Shires said: "There are some people unfortunately who do not see change as a good thing.

"For Walsall to move forward, we have to look at our past and the present day.

"We have lost certain parts of our culture along the way in part due to so many people from different backgrounds bringing new things to Walsall.

"However this is something to be celebrated and is in no way a negative."

The Community Cohesion Working Group, set up by Councillor Shires and Councillor Aftab Nawaz, was commended for its work at the meeting, with committee members suggesting they would be happy to see their work continue.

A line in a report on the plans, compiled by Councillor Nawaz, reads: "In terms of the workforces of the council and its partners it is recognised that there is some way to go before the council, and in particular the police, have a workforce that reflects the makeup of the local population.

"By having a workforce that reflects local demographics a greater organisational awareness can be built that will break down barriers and enable improved services to be delivered."