COMMUNITY leaders today gave a mixed reaction to the imminent publication of the Burnley 2006 The Real Story report.

While most greeted its findings positively there was clearly still some concern over race relations in the town. And while it was agreed much had been done to engage communities over the last five years there was no doubt more work had to be done.

l Former MP Peter Pike, who witnessed the start of the riots on his daughter's birthday in 2001, said: "I always said they were disturbances and not riots because I think the actions of the police contained it.

"It was very unsettling at the time and I have no doubt the involvement of the BNP in the 2001 elections stirred things up.

"I hope those days never return but it would be foolish if you said it couldn't happen again.

"The areas of greatest deprivation remain among the Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities. A lot of the problems have been addressed by the council through the report which was published at the time by Lord Clarke and there has been a lot of investment in the town.

"But it's not just about money. It's about things like getting the community involved which is absolutely crucial. It's not a problem either local or national governments can solve on their own."

l Lord Tony Clarke said: "There is always the threat of bigotry among people seeking disorder in communities and that does not solely apply to Burnley.

"At the present time I don't see any evidence or signs of public disorder being on the rise at all. In fact one of the greatest things about the report is the police having a special unit for intelligence who look for signs of problems before they occur.

"Burnley is ahead of the game in terms of having this unit.

"But we can never become complacent. We have got to be on our toes and if there are any signs of people seeking to cause trouble then they have to be dealt with in the correct manner."

l Abdul Qureshi, Chairman of Lancashire Council of Mosques, said: "I think the report is balanced and encouraging. There are a lot of agencies working very hard. There's a lot of people putting in a great deal of effort and I'm quite optimistic about the future."

l Rafiq Malik, who was deputy mayor of Burnley in 2001, said: "When you have people who are of that mind to create disorder you can always say there is a possibility for danger and there is certainly no room for complacency. We've got to keep working at it.

"This was not a one-off, it is a continuing phenomena like any other we have in society.

"A lot of people have done a lot of work but the size of the task is enormous.

"There are over 90,000 people living in Burnley. The work that has been done has been very effective in bringing the young people together over the last four or five years. That has had a tremendous impact."

l Mohammad Najib, Burnley Mayor, said: "A lot of progress has been made and communities are closer than they were five years ago. My role, as mayor of the borough, is to continue to make progress over the coming year."

l Burnley MP Kitty Ussher said: "I think the report is the people of the town speaking. I am personally immensely proud of the way people are prepared to discuss and talk about what happened."

l Gordon Birtwistle, Burnley Council leader, said: "We've got a lot more community cohesion and the people of Burnley have a lot more willingness to live together. I think we've learned a lot over the last five years. The council and other bodies have worked hard to solve the problems that were created.

"I sincerely hope those days don't return but you can never say never."

l The Rev Sally Thomas from the Building Bridges group said: "Positive efforts are being made, there's no two ways about that, and one hopes there will never be a repeat of those scenes again.

"Certainly the research I've done would suggest that faith is not an issue at all. There are issues over misunderstandings of culture and race and those need to be addressed."

l Burnley-born Dewsbury MP Shahid Malik said: "I think a lot of people have put a lot of effort into moving things forward and that's commendable.

"However, there's no doubt that the continuing support for the BNP signals there is a lot of work still to be done."