THE Government today announced East Lancashire people will be among more than a dozen members of a special Home Office panel looking at rioting in Burnley, Bradford and Oldham.

The group will meet each month for the next year to discuss disturbances in the three areas last summer.

It will discuss and develop initiatives to try and prevent a repeat.

Home Office Minister John Denham has appointed Ted Cantle, former chief executive of Nottingham City Council, to chair the Community Cohesion Panel to advise a ministerial group aimed at defusing racial and other tensions in urban areas.

Mr Cantle chaired the main national report on the disturbances which advised that such a task force be set up.

About 12 people with local knowledge of the issues raised by the disturbances, including those in Burnley in June last year, will be appointed to the panel.

The panel will aim to integrate policy across Whitehall and local government.