COMMENTS will be sought from members of Burnley Council on its draft race equality scheme prepared as a key response to recommendations in the town's task report.

The council has undertaken a wide-ranging consultation exercise following the disturbances which occured in the town in June 2001 and led to the production of the Task Report.

Knowledge and experience gained during the last 12 months has been used to produce the draft scheme.

Consultation on the scheme, the council's action plan and timetable will continue until July 31 and key stakeholders such as local minority ethnic communities, staff, managers and partner agencies have been continuously consulted to ensure their views are reflected.

The scheme, which is simply a consultation document at the moment, will ensure that the council meets its general and specific duties under the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000 and can demonstrate progress towards meeting levels one and two of the Equality Standard for Local Government which is a newly introduced Best Value Performance Indicator.

It will be a new policy for the council and will be a key tool in ensuring the council tackles racial discrimination, promotes equality of opportunity and promotes good race relations.

It will place particular emphasis on the role of elected members and senior managers to ensure that race equality is always considered at the most senior decision making levels of the council.

Burnley Borough Council has developed its own 20 year strategy as a statement of its vision for the future of the borough and what its values as an organisation ought to be and the draft race equality scheme complements this.

It has said that by 2020 it aims to ensure that Burnley will be a prosperous, clean, safe and healthy borough where people are proud to live and work and where all citizens can enjoy a good quality of life.

By July 2002 the council aims to have adopted a comprehensive equality policy, a corporate race equality action plan and a community cohesion plan.