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Kirklees Council will launch a major new strategy in March, aiming to lead by example in the fight against division and hatred in its midst.
It aims to desegregate schools, encourage residents to mix more and persuade more people to report any extremists in their communities.
The strategy is the culmination of six years of community cohesion work, introduced after the Bradford riots in 2001, and reverses years of what current leaders describe as an ethos of political correctness that merely served to increase tensions.
Tory councillor Khazir Iqbal, Kirklees Cabinet member for stronger and safer communities, said: "Political correctness has been the biggest barrier in community relations. It creates segregations.
"It was so embedded in the culture of the council and other institutions in the area that it was almost like a powerbase that no one dared challenge.
"But political correctness is not something we can accept or tolerate or support. We're now moving to a new vision based on fairness, addressing inequalities by treating everyone the same."
Coun Iqbal pointed to West Yorkshire Police's decision 18 months ago to abolish a community-wide forum in Dewsbury but keep a black and Asian forum as an example of a divisive policy that only succeeded in alienating people. The force is now in the process of reversing the decision.
The rapid Asian migration in the 1960s to the area's failing textile industry has left parts of the district highly segregated and with a mutual fear and loathing that, the council acknowledges, could on a number of occasions in the last few years have spilled into mass violence.
In Dewsbury, a town blighted by the stigma of terrorism, the fast growing Asian community has kept itself segregated in Savile Town and the surrounding areas while the mostly white districts have fallen prey to the allure of the BNP.
A recent review by the Institute of Community Cohesion said it was an area where people lived parallel lives, under-achieved in education and were segregated by the standard and location of housing.
It said there were also serious concerns about extremism within the area and Asian inter-generational tensions.
Dewsbury resident Coun Iqbal said that it was important to be realistic about the problems facing the town, but not to condemn its residents unfairly.
He said: "We have communities here living parallel lives and there is very little social interaction between them. There are segregations, not only where people live but also in schools and other areas of community life.
"Since 7/7 there have been several occasions where many people thought that there's going to be some kind of community conflict here but I think the people have come through very positively, they've shown their resilience in coping."
The new strategy is designed to make residents feel more involved in the development and distribution of services, feel safer living in the area and more tolerant of others.
One of the key areas where things will change will be in the schools system, which Coun Iqbal said were up to 90 or 99 per cent segregated.
Over time admissions procedures will make the schools more mixed, new facilities will be built at the boundaries of white and Asian areas to encourage integration, there will be more emphasis on games and citizenship education will be improved.
Other measures include an expansion of inter-faith networks, increasing the opportunities for women, and improved community confidence so that more people report tensions and hate incidents.
Coun Iqbal said there would also be less reliance on "so-called self-appointed leaders" – generally elder members of the Asian community who claim they have influence within the community but often cause tension with younger members.
He added: "Historically we interacted with very selective people in the community and I strongly object to that. Maybe 30 or 40 years ago only certain people had a role to play but in this day and age we cannot follow those practices to achieve successful community cohesion.
"We have to engage wider communities and young people in particular. Likewise we have to embed the community cohesion concept in the whole council structure, not just create a document that gathers dust.
"It's only when we get schools, faith communities, young people, police, health and other agencies involved that cohesion will become a shared future vision and strategy for everybody, not just some council-led small initiative."
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