BURNLEY'S ears may have been collectively burning last Wednesday when Lord Tony Clarke spoke glowingly of the town in the House of Lords.

He and I were taking part in the second reading of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill, an important piece of new legislation which will change the way all councils work.

Tony (Lord Clarke of Hampstead) was praising the joint bid that Burnley and Pendle made to become a Unitary Council which would do everything that at present is done by the two boroughs but mainly by Lancashire County Council.

He said that as chairman of the Task Force that followed the "sad events" of June 2001 he was disappointed the bid had so far been unsuccessful.

"The arguments for unitary local government are compelling," he said. "It can deliver services at lower cost. It is more accountable for its services because there is greater transparency for who is responsible for them."

In districts such as Burnley, there is often a strong sense of local identity, with people looking to the district council to fix their problems. However, most local taxes are passed upwards to the county council.

The county council, he said, makes the big decisions, often many miles away from local communities and with little understanding of local concerns.

Tony and I sit opposite each other across the end of the chamber near to the Throne, he on Labour backbenches behind the Bishops while I sit amongst my Liberal Democrat colleagues.

So I was listening and agreeing. None less than when he said that while Burnley had high levels of deprivation with low educational attainment and life expectancy, it is also "a place of great potential".

"It has beautiful rural settings, it attracts hundreds of millions of pounds of investment", and it has a unique industrial heritage and a diverse people with a strong sense of community.

When it came to my turn I cheekily suggested that not only is Burnley a fine town with some beautiful surroundings - "it also now has some pretty good leadership!"

With my tongue not entirely in my cheek I added that "Burnley's twin of Pendle is even more beautiful, is an even finer place, and has even better leadership."

But I did admit that I might be biased on that score!