NELSON-born actor John Simm has told of his 'shock' at the racism in his home town — and community leaders admitted the problem needs to be tackled.

The star of Life On Mars, who spent his first 16 years in Nelson from 1970 to 1986, said he had difficulty dealing with local attitudes.

He said: “You do come across casual racism up there and I can’t really deal with it, whether it’s someone in the family or friends of the family.

“It jars, it’s shocking.”

Mr Simm, who has also featured in Dr Who, rarely talks about his Pendle upbringing.

He made the comments in an in-depth interview with The Guardian.

Most community leaders agreed with Simm’s claims that the town suffered from casual racism, but were divided on potential solutions.

Coun Mohammed Iqbal, leader of the Labour group in Pendle, even said that he felt there wasn't much that could be done, although others believed great strides had been made in recent years.

The only criticism of Mr Simm was from council leader Mike Blomeley, who said he did not feel there was an issue.

Coun Iqbal said racism existed in the town from both white and Asian people, but he believes it is no different to many other towns.

“You come across casual or serious racism in all communities,” he said.

“There are issues with a small minority of people but I think most people just rub along with each other.”

Coun Iqbal said casual racism was something that people in the town had to live with.

He said: “I grew up in Nelson and came across casual racism but you just take it on the chin.

“It is something that has always gone on. It hasn’t changed in recent years.

"There is no more or less racism than there was 30 years ago.

“I don’t think it has anything to do with split communities or large Asian communities.

"It is just how humans are and how we want to stereotype people. It happens on both sides.

“It is something that people will have to live with. There isn’t much that can be done to tackle it."

Pendle MP Andrew Stephenson said that the town had similar problems to others in East Lancashire or West Yorkshire, and blamed the straight-talking attitudes of people in the area.

“There is a prevalence of casual racism in the area,” he said, “but that's the same in large parts of East Lancashire and West Yorkshire.

“It is the attitude of people to speak frankly and make comments that they don’t see as offensive.

“It is difficult for people to deal with casual racism.

"We need to do more to educate people, but I don’t think we need any big campaigns.

“I think the issue will resolve itself over time."

Coun Blomeley, leader of Pendle Council, told of his disappointment at Mr Simm’s comments.

“I don’t really think it is an issue," he said.

"There will always be individual issues that crop up but we’ve not had anything serious happen in Pendle.

“I’m sure it does probably go on, but life is like that.

"People aren’t perfect, and it happens from both communities.”

North West Euro MP Sajjad Karim, who grew up Nelson and has been a councillor in Pendle, said he believed that the town had changed for the better in recent years.

“I would have grown up in Nelson at the same time as John Simm,” he said.

“I think there was a problem in those days. I witnessed violent racism as well as casual racism.

“It is much better now than it was. I am in and out of Nelson all the time and think it has changed a lot.

“The key is to get communities together and mixing. That didn’t happen in the 70s and 80s and there was a lot of overt and open racism.

Coun Tony Beckett, mayor of Pendle, said the solution was to talk to people to find out why it happened.

“Why do some people feel the need to insult someone who, in most instances, they have never met or spoken to before?

“It's better to say nothing that say something inflammatory.

“If we don’t speak to people to find out what causes this then we will never find the solution.”