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A council has dropped gender-specific terms for its senior positions in an effort to avoid offending people.
Conservative-run Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council has voted in favour of dropping masculine and feminine terms and will now adopt gender-neutral language for senior positions.
The move will see the chairman and vice-chairman of committees being referred to as chair and vice-chair.
People will also be called 'they' in the future rather than being referred to as 'he' or 'she' or 'Mr or Madam chairman'.
Poole People Councillor L.J Evans, who put forward the proposal along with Labour councillor Lewis Allison last year, said the changes were 'a small win for equality' and 'not political correctness gone mad'.
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council (pictured) has voted in favour of dropping gender-specific terms for its senior positions
Poole People Councillor L.J Evans (left) put forward the proposal along with Labour councillor Lewis Allison (right) last year
However one elected member of the local authority deemed the move 'nonsense' and said changing language was 'just a pointless exercise'.
Last year councillor Evans argued that using masculine or feminine terms was 'unnecessary', and removing 'he and she' would prevent unconscious bias and stop