A YEAR ago this weekend Burnley erupted in some of the worst racial violence ever seen in the town.

For three days police struggled to contain the troubles which saw a pub burned out, shops wrecked in brick-throwing attacks and cars overturned and torched as officers came under a hail of stones and bricks as they kept Asian and white troublemakers apart. One police officer described the violence as worse than Belfast.

Nick Evans talked to Lord Tony Clarke, the key figure in overseeing the rehabilitation of the town in the wake of the violence, and asked: What has been achieved in the 12 months since the riots and what still needs to be done?

THE task force set up on August 1 to investigate the events leading up to the disturbances on June 22 and 23 and plan a way forward for the town was headed by Lord Tony Clarke.

When the task force published its report, "Burnley Speaks, Who listens..?", in December it outlined 15 main recommendations to improve the town's future, encourage better integration between the cultural groups in the town and ensure the violence would never be witnessed again.

One year on from the riots, Lord Clarke, who still keeps in regular contact with Burnley, said: "Although I am not in Burnley all the time I am in touch with people in the town and I can see there has been a huge commitment from the organisations and very positive signs that bridges are being built.

"That is fine as far as it goes, but I am watching with interest for the outcome of the government's comprehensive spending review to see how the town fares with the very much needed resources for housing regeneration. With the best will in the world the people of Burnley cannot tackle things like problems with housing without massive assistance in terms of resources and advice from government.

"Houses that are in such a poor state of repair that they are never going to be lived in again need to be cleared, and once that sort of programme is under way it can give a real lift to neighbourhoods.

"I'm very pleased to see that churches and mosques seem to be working very closely together to produce dialogue between different religions.

"Although you cannot expect people to change their long-held attitudes overnight, under the leaders of the Asian communities and those in the Christian community some good foundations for neighbourhood co-operation are being achieved.

"I get a lot of letters and e-mails from people in the town, especially children, saying how new initiatives have opened up new horizons for them, which is a great message of hope for the future."

Lord Clarke said he was hoping to attend the launch of the "Building Bridges in Burnley" initiative on Sunday, a scheme to promote cohesion and co-operation across communities and cultures, due to be held at St Andrew's Church and Community Centre, Duke Bar, Colne Road.

Shahid Malik, community leader and son of former Mayor of Burnley Rafique Malik, says he is pleased at the progress made since the riots of a year ago, but warns there is still a lot of work to be done.

Mr Malik said: "A year is not a long time and many of the problems took more than a decade to come to the negative fruition of last summer, so it is going to take a long time to put things right.

"Many of the plans needed to sort things out are starting to be put in place, such as the Burnley Action Partnership, whose job it is to oversee the recommendations of the task force, they are starting to make that report a reality.

"We cannot expect a great deal of impact after just a year, but the foundations are being laid in things like the council's racial equality scheme."