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All local authorities need to take action to ensure their policies promote community cohesion and do not lead to segregation, according to new draft guidance.

It stresses the key role of local authorities in building on the lessons learned from the riots in Burnley, Oldham, and Bradford last year.

It is being promoted as a toolkit for local authorities on how to take the cohesion agenda forward and is published by the Local Government Association, the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, the Home Office and the Commission for Racial Equality.

"The reports that examined the causes of last year's disturbances pointed to a range of factors, none of which were unique to those towns," the guidance says.

"For this reason, none of us can be complacent. Community cohesion is an issue that we believe all authorities need to address."

The guidance suggests that many local authorities' assessments of their existing policies will highlight a need to improve.

It calls on local authorities to elect a member and appoint a senior officer to champion community cohesion, to involve all key local agencies from the voluntary, community, private and public sectors, and to make community cohesion a regular item at cabinet and partnership meetings.

The guidance's focus on segregation also brings into question the government's support for the development of more faith schools and the introduction of accommodation centres for asylum seekers.

It suggests using education to promote community cohesion by ensuring that all formal education uses a curriculum that recognises the contribution of all cultures and, where segregated schooling exists, that inter-school activities are developed to promote cross-cultural contact.

Finally, the guidance stresses the importance of local authorities working closely with the police and local people to tackle race crime and its impact on segregation.

"Where there is potential for unrest, it is often the relationship between the local authority and the police that can be a factor in whether conflict boils over into disturbances," says the report.

- The draft guidance is out for consultation until 14 August and is available from www.homeoffice.gov.uk/cpd/ccu/commcohe.pdf