A SPECIAL meeting of Burnley Council will be held early next year to discuss the findings of the task force report into the summer violence in the town.

Lord Clarke, independent chairman of the task force, will be invited to attend to discuss the report and how the council can help implement its recommendations.

Large numbers of the public are also expected to be at the meeting on January 30.

So many are expected that council members will be asked tomorrow whether they want to hold the meeting somewhere such as the Mechanics rather than in the council chamber to allow access to more people.

The special council meeting is one of a number of meetings being held in response to the task force findings.

The report criticised the council saying there was not enough healthy debate in the Burnley Council chamber and that certain maverick councillors had a bad influence over other members.

It said there was a lack of overall strategic political vision in the council and some had claimed there appeared to be no overall political leadership in the town.

The task force also expressed the belief that, as a priority, multi-cultured structures should be set up borough wide.

Council chief executive Dr Gillian Taylor will tomorrow ask the council to agree to a process for dealing with the task force recommendations.

She said: "There is clearly much in the task force's report and action plan which members will want to discuss."

The report will be formally received by the council tomorrow.

Members of the executive will discuss its findings at a meeting on January 8 and a community conference will be held at Turf Moor on January 10.

Councillors are also being asked to approve a special meeting of the scrutiny committee councillors' co-ordinating panel on January 23 and a further meeting of the executive on January 22 when they will take into account issues coming from the community conference.

Dr Taylor said: "The executive will consider the preparation of an action plan in response to the task force report for recommendation to the council."

The council will also be asked whether it wants to make any formal acknowledgement its appreciation for the work of Lord Clarke.

In a report to the council Dr Taylor says the financial implications of the recommendations have not yet been assessed but it was clear that provisions would have to be made in next year's budget.