Keighley Racial Equality Council could break away from its troubled parent group in Bradford.

The organisation is talking with Bradford Council about the possibility of separate funding and management.

Keighley's long-serving REC manager Zafar Ali and the Keighley sub-committee are looking at how an independent office would operate.

Meanwhile it is "business as usual" as Mr Ali and his assistant deal with up to 25 people a day, mostly from Keighley's ethnic minority population.

Mohammed Saleem, chairman of Keighley REC, said Bradford Council leader Ian Greenwood and chief executive Ian Stewart have expressed support.

He added: "We'll be working together with the Council to ensure a safe future. The REC is an integral part of Keighley."

The REC office in Albert Street last year helped 2,300 people with problems ranging from immigration and employment to housing, and domestic trauma.

The Commission for Racial Equality and the National Lottery Charities Board withdrew funding from Bradford REC following a police probe into financial irregularities and a damning employment tribunal ruling.

The REC's entire executive committee resigned in December and a small interim committee was appointed.

Bradford Council, which provides £159,000 a year to run the Bradford and Keighley offices, agreed to continue funding while the proposals were thrashed out.

The Commission for Racial Equality this week stressed that KREC was not included in any concerns about financial or management matters.

Eric Seward, the CRE's northern director, said: "It has provided an advice service that has been easily accessible. It has not been directly involved in any of the Bradford REC's recent difficulties."

Bradford Council leader Ian Greenwood said: "I think it's an historical accident that Keighley Racial Equality Council has been funded through the same block as Bradford.

"I have been asked over the past few weeks about the position of Keighley Racial Equality Council in light of the situation in Bradford and there has never been any doubt that it has been properly run and will be properly funded. They are two separate organisations and so they should be run separately."

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