Community relations in Burnley will come under the spotlight thanks to a £125,000 Home Office grant.

The award is to be shared between Lancaster University and Building Bridges, an inter-faith group which aims to increase co-operation between Christians and Muslims.

Sociologists from the university will work with the project to find out how their work is helping bridge the divides between different groups in the town.

Hamid Qureshi, Building Bridges' project co-ordinator, said: "The research will run for two years and will look at how our work is contributing to community relations."

Burnley was the scene of race riots in 2001 which saw violent clashes between gangs of white and Asian youths in parts of the town.

Shops were looted, cars burnt out and one of Burnley's best-known pubs, the Duke of York, was firebombed.

Building Bridges was launched at a celebration attended by more than two hundred people from all faith communities at St Andrews Church in June 2002 - a church at the centre of the area affected by the riots.

The project aims to promote unity between the two religions of Christianity and Islam and bring people together in the town, no matter what their background.

The group has been praised by the Bishop of Burnley, the Rt Rev John Goddard, who called it a 'key player' in building trust between communities.

The Lancaster University report is due out in 2007.