A police chief confessed last night that he had no idea what had happened to an action plan on Bradford's race relations.
Assistant Chief Constable Greg Wilkinson said he did not have the knowledge to defend claims that nothing had been done since the damning Ouseley report into the district's race problems.
Mr Wilkinson, who spoke out at a board meeting of Bradford Vision, said: "I am a board member and I don't know what has been done. I need to know in order to play my part."
Lord Ouseley, who headed a team which brought out a report on Bradford's race issues, was reported earlier this week as saying nothing appeared to have happened in response.
But Lord Ouseley also came under fierce criticism in a one-hour debate about his reported claims.
Leader of Bradford Council's Labour Group Councillor Ian Greenwood said: "This has been very unhelpful. An inordinate amount of money was spent acquiring his services for this report. At the very least he could have contacted us."
But he warned that in July the eyes of world would be on Bradford and people would want to know precisely what had been done.
President of Bradford Chamber of Commerce John Pennington said Lord Ouseley appears to have forgotten who paid him "rather too quickly".
But Vision chairman, Councillor Mar-garet Eaton, said: "The Council has had a lot to respond to in addition. We have had to respond to the Cantle and Denham Reports as well as Ouseley. It has been a moving agenda."
She said the Council had produced an action plan which had been made public and a number of initiatives were taking place.
The board decided to write to Lord Ouseley expressing disappointment and outlining what had already been done.
l Members agreed that Bradford Vision - made up of all the district's leading organisations - should throw off its negative profile and tackle poor communications.
Its new chief executive Sharmila Gandhi said in the past there had been too many strategies and plans and no clear direction. But she said by next year it should be operating as a professional organisation, making a difference and communicating effectively.
l The board agreed a neighbourhood renewal strategy to take the district up to the year 2005 and will now be submitted to the Government offices for approval.
Vision has been designated a local strategic partnership with the role of distributing £7.8 million government Neighbourhood renewal funding in partnership with the Council. It is required by the Government to draw up a clear strategy and target to build up a better district.
The strategy includes improving public services tackling depravation, enabling more people to become active citizens and increasing learning, sharing and negotiation between communities.
Vision has now drawn in for the first time four members of the community, Gurjit Singh, Adeeba Malik, Nazia Shah and Ramson Mumba to sit on the board.
Mr Singh, 31, a contract auditor said after the meeting: "I live here and I feel very passionate about Bradford. We see how Leeds has brought inward investment and gone ahead and I would like Bradford to succeed.
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