A BNP activist is bidding to be elected on to the board of a city organisation which won Government praise for promoting racial harmony.

David Guynan is a fully paid-up member of the right-wing British National Party - and stood as a candidate in local elections.

Now he is trying to secure a seat on the panel of Sunderland's Back on the Map project, which aims to change the face of Hendon and the East End.

The project won praise from the Home Office for teaching youngsters to embrace different cultures and faiths.

The Back on the Map project plans to pump £28m into Hendon and the East End of Sunderland over the next six years.

It is holding an election for managers from the community next Thursday and about 1,000 people are expected to vote.

Mr Guynan, who lives in Hendon, was BNP parliamentary candidate for Sunderland North in 2001 and is standing in Sunderland South for the next General Election.

In last year's city council election, he was the BNP candidate in the Hendon ward and polled 504 votes.

When he stood for the city council in 2003, he won 619 votes.

Teenager Thomas Bradbury, a member of the BNP's Young Brits youth wing, is also standing.

Another 25 people are candidates for 15 seats on the 32-strong board.

The remaining seats on the board go to representatives from the project's partner groups, such as the city council, Northumbria Police and the Sunderland Teaching Primary Care Trust.

A BNP Sunderland official said: "They are candidates because of our commitment to community politics and, as the party has had 20 per cent of the vote in Hendon, there is a strand of opinion that needs to be represented."

Mike Hartman, a spokesman for the Tyne and Wear Anti-Fascist Association, said: "The community in Hendon is diverse.

"The BNP would be required to serve the community, so how could its members - who support kicking out all black and Asian people from the country - work hand in hand with others in promoting community cohesion?"