BURNLEY played host to a major national conference yesterday to look at how far communities rocked by last year's riots have progressed.

Delegates from local councils, the police, partner agencies and faith organisations attended the Working for Community Cohesion event at Turf Moor.

The conference looked at how 'community cohesion' can best be achieved and what lessons can be learned from Burnley's Task Force report into last summer's riots.

Speakers included Home Office Minister Beverley Hughes, Burnley Task Force chairman Lord Tony Clarke, Burnley Borough Council leader Stuart Caddy and Guardian leader writer Randeep Ramesh.

At the meeting Burnley's housing problems were highlighted as a major contributing factor into the riots along with regeneration, education, crime and disorder.

In a keynote address to the national conference, community cohesion minister Beverley Hughes praised the work already underway in the town but urged Burnley council and its partners to keep up the good work.

She said: "Central government has a role to play, but the key responsibility for delivering improvements in local areas lies with Burnley itself.

"Our aim is to ensure the principles of community cohesion central to policy and programme decisions across central, regional and local government.

"The series of practitioner groups, made up of experts from relevant fields, will develop concrete proposals and workable policies to help Central and local government encourage strong, cohesive communities."

In May, Burnley Borough Council launched its Community Cohesion Action Plan, setting out challenges facing the town and giving examples of ways they could be tackled.

The report was compiled at the request of the Government, which asked people in Burnley, Bradford and Oldham, which were affected by rioting last year, to set out how they would deal with the issues.

Leader of Burnley Council Stuart Caddy said Community Cohesion is now top of the agenda and is not just a buzz word. "We are involving the communities and not just the politicians."

At the meeting Lord Tony Clarke went over what was found in the Task Force.

He said: "This time last year the task force was hard at work. The people of Burnley are determined to prevent it from happening again.

"There is still a hell of a lot to be done but I gained hope when I visited St Andrew's Church on the anniversary of the disturbances. All faiths stood hand in hand singing about the need to live and work together in peace and harmony, it was a great experience."