COMMUNITY leaders have welcomed a television documentary that portrayed Blackburn as racially segregated - because they say the issues it raises need urgent discussion.

The Panorama documentary on BBC1 last night claimed racial segregation was giving the town an identity crisis and painted a picture of a divided society, with whites on one side and Asians on the other.

It showed two taxi drivers, one white and one Asian, as they picked up fares to see if they operated in segregated areas.

It concluded that while the drivers shared the town centre, their routes largely stuck to their own separate patches in Mill Hill and Whalley Range respectively.

Presenter Vivian White was seen interviewing MP Jack Straw on the Muslim veil issue and looked at supposed 'white flight', the relocation of white residents from certain areas of town.

Speaking shortly after the programme, Mr Straw said: "I think it contained a lot of food for thought and it shows there is a great need for discussion between the two communities.

"I think the situation will change in time, partly as English becomes the overriding language of the Asian community."

But council leader Coun Kate Hollern branded the programme as divisive' and said the image it presented was 10 years behind the times.

She said: "I think it put a very small part of the borough under the microscope and it wasn't a fair reflection of the town.

"That's not to say that segregation isn't an issue but I think it showed what it wanted."

However, Canon Chris Chivers, from Blackburn Cathedral, was also shown orchestrating a school twinning session so that pupils from a predominantly white school and a predominantly Asian school could get to know each other.

He felt the programme reflected the reality in Blackburn.

"Holding a mirror up to a town can be a bit of a painful experience because you see what the reality really is," he said.

"If you label some of what was said as racist, people don't say it and you don't get the problems to the table.

"If that doesn't happen you get nowhere when we really need to get to the core of the problem."

Anjum Anwar, who works with Blackburn Cathedral to bridge the gap between Muslims and Christians, agreed with Canon Chivers and said the programme had highlighted the problems Blackburn faced.

She said: "We have been saying for three or four years that we have a segregated community but we need to get rid of this political correctness that makes people afraid to talk about things."