Census reveals rural town of Boston has most eastern European immigrants (original) (raw)

Picking up her daughter from Park primary school on Tuesday, Sabrina Reall was unsurprised to hear that Boston was now home to a higher proportion of eastern European immigrants than anywhere else in England and Wales. "I stand in the playground and all I hear is Polish," said the 27-year-old barmaid, who has lived in Lincolnshire her whole life. "They've got Polish teachers, too, and I've sometimes heard them talking to the kids in their language."

Like many longer-term residents of the Lincolnshire farming town, Reall was unhappy at how much it had changed since the European Union was enlarged in 2004. In 2001, the biggest foreign community in Boston comprised 249 Germans. Census figures then showed Boston as having a population of 55,753, with 98.5% indicating they were white British. Ten years on, 10.6% of the town's 64,600-strong population comes from one of the "new" EU countries such as Poland, Lithuania, Latvia or Romania.

Park primary demonstrates that demographic change: 62% of pupils at the school are from migrant backgrounds, overwhelmingly from eastern Europe. A recent Ofsted report, largely positive about the efforts being made in the face of obvious adversity, noted that almost all on arrival are at an early stage of learning English: no wonder the parking sign outside is translated into five languages.

When Reall attended the school 20 years ago, there were no foreigners, she said, and all local children could get in. Not any more, she said: "My daughter couldn't get a place here at the beginning and had to go to a school six miles away." Latvian Skaidrite Kolberga, who was on foot picking up 4-year-old Vanessa from the Little Robin pre-school attached to Park primary, said it was easy to get a place. "Now Vanessa can speak better English than me," she said.

Local Tory councillor Mike Gilbert, responsible for housing, population and communities, says the biggest challenge posed by the wave of immigration is "the perception of the disadvantages of immigration". In other words, the misconceptions: particularly the notion "they come over here and take our jobs". As local Tory MP Mark Simmonds pointed out earlier this year, there are about 1,300 unemployed people in Boston: "If we got rid of 10,000 migrants, who would do the work?"

"It's not true to say there are no jobs," said Kasia Augustu, a Polish careworker enjoying "Polski Smak" (roast pork with Silesian dumplings) at U Anu restaurant on Boston high street. "If you want a job, you will get one. The problem with English people is they can't keep the job. They take too many sick days and find it easier to take benefits rather than work."

Simmonds also noted that while it was true the population increase had put pressure on local services, it had brought unexpected benefits. "The maternity unit at Pilgrim hospital would not be viable without migrant births [nearly 40%]," he said.

Most immigrants in the town said they were planning to stay long term. Former IT worker Emilia Tenea opened a shop stocking Romanian products to cater for the few hundred of her compatriots who have arrived in the town since Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU in 2008. She is banking on a steady increase in custom – which is likely when Romanians gain the right to live and work unrestricted in the UK from 2014. Business was already brisk, as homesick Transylvanians picking sprouts on the farms popped in for spicy sausages and Kalnapilis beer. She had no plans to leave. "I love it here. When I made my first steps off the plane, I said, 'I'm home'."