|TOP|Half a decade after clashes between Asian and white communities raged through parts of the Lancashire town of Oldham, a new report has urged more inter-faith dialogue is still needed to root out racial tensions.

The new report warned that there was still a long way to go in healing the rift caused by the intense period of racially-motivated violence in May 2001, reports The Catholic Times.

The report, by Ted Cantle of the Institute of Community Cohesion, found that even though progress had been made, some community leaders had also been unwilling to full cooperate in the reconciliation process.

It went on to warn that those who did take part in the process were overburdened.

|AD|“We found that leaders of the Voluntary, Community and Inter-faith sectors were restricted to a small cadre of established representatives who often felt over-stretched and unable to cope with the volume of meetings, reports and requests for consultation.

The report also stressed the need for more young people to be brought into the dialogue.

“There is a pressing need to widen representation to include women and young people and to invest in the next generation of leadership,” the report read.

Catholic priest and chairman of the Oldham Cohesion Advisory Group, Fr Philip Sumner said that while there was some hesitation amongst both Christian and Muslim leaders to engage in more fully in interfaith dialogue, the majority were willing to cooperate.

“The Cantle report certainly doesn't make a broad sweep of all community leaders,” he said. “But there are elements in both Christian and Muslim communities with different understandings of their mission, which is preventing them from being fully engaged in the process.”

The report found that clear progress had been, however, and will continue to be made by those involved in the reconciliation process.

“However, more and more faith leaders are becoming involved. Five years ago there was no interfaith forum,” the report read. “Now it meets on a regular basis, and has received regular support from faith leaders. With more and more getting involved the snowball effect is now gathering pace and those unwilling to engage will get pushed more to the sidelines.”