A REDACTED council report unwittingly made confidential information public.

A report is to go before Burnley Council's audit committee next week detailing an investigation into a video containing racist chanting being shared on Cllr Alan Hosker's Facebook page next week.

Some information regarding witnesses was redacted to protect the identity of parties involved.

But it was not done properly and the redacted information could easily be seen by anyone copying and pasting the report into word processing software.

Cllr Hosker said he would be raising the issue urgently with the council.

He said: “I wasn’t aware that this information had been published but it is a serious breach and I will be raising it with the council.

“On all the paperwork I received for the meeting, the information is crossed out.

“This information is sensitive and should not have been made public. It is supposed to be confidential.”

The report made public the identity of the person who posted the video, as well as health issues they have been suffering with.

A Burnley Council spokesman said the report was removed from the council's website as soon as the authority was made aware of the issue.

The spokesman added that Cllr Hosker had received an apology and it had been an honest mistake.

The report details how the video, which showed a march in support of former EDL leader Tommy Robinson, was shared on Cllr Hosker’s page on June 9.

Cllr Joanne Greenwood raised a complaint with Burnley Council monitoring officer Lukman Patel and an investigation was conducted.

Cllr Hosker made representations stating he did not subscribe to the views expressed in the video, which was removed from his page on June 12.

He explained that having just recently undergone some surgery on his jaw he had been inactive on his Facebook page since the previous week. During this time, someone with access to his personal, business and council Facebook pages, posted a number of articles, including the one containing offensive language, Cllr Hosker claimed.

Following the conclusion of the council's investigation and having found to be in breach of the code of conduct, a 'local resolution' was agreed.

In it, Cllr Hosker condemned the language used in the video and apologised for it being shared on his Facebook page.

He agreed to buy speakers for his PC to ensure it did not happen again, and said he would personally manage his county councillor Facebook page.

The resolution states: "The investigating officer was satisfied that Cllr Hosker was not attempting to bring about any reaction (xenophobic or otherwise) that would lead to conflict, divisions or hatred between any groups when posting the video."

When asked if he had made any comments regarding this video or the complaint Cllr Hosker stated that he had placed a comment retrospectively on both his councillor and personal Facebook accounts to state that if the content of the video had caused any upset then he apologised.

But in a report to be discussed by the council's audit committee next week, investigating officer Chris Gay said: "The explanation as presented is plausible but weak. This weakness is based upon the convenience of the explanation and its timing, the circumstances surrounding it, and the inconsistencies identified in the representation of Cllr Hosker.

"In any event the issue as to whether the explanation is plausible or not is of secondary importance."

Earlier this year, Cllr Hosker, also a county councillor, apologised to Lancashire County Council members for the post

County councillor Hosker scored a surprise win at the county council elections last year, overturning a near-1000 majority and ousting then Labour cabinet member Marcus Johnstone.

The victory, which handed county councillor Hosker a majority of more than 200, came on a day when UKIP suffered crushing losses elsewhere in the country.

The Padiham and Burnley West seat was previously held by the British National Party between 2009 and 2013.