Local government leaders have stepped up their campaign to influence the migration debate.
The LGA has announced a joint investigation with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) into the impact immigration makes on housing allocation.
Commission chairman, Trevor Phillips, revealed the initiative would examine controversial claims of immigrants being given priority on waiting lists for council accommodation. He said: ‘To date, I have never seen any reliable evidence to back up this claim.
‘And, there can be no doubt that much of the public feeling is driven by careless media and racist parties.’
It followed renewed calls by the LGA for the system of measuring migration to be ‘radically overhauled’.
Funding shortfalls are straining translation and interpretation services as well as health and children’s services and education, and are hampering work to prevent racial and cultural tension. Birmingham City Council has already made a bid to the funding pot of £10m to cope with the pressure of extra migrants.
Portfolio holder for public protection at Suffolk CC, Joanna Spicer, confirmed her authority would also appeal for funding. She said migrant workers made a ‘valuable contribution’ to the local economy, but added: ‘The Government must recognise and compensate councils such as ours for the additional costs and demands migrant workers generate.’
Councils including Slough Council and Westminster City Council have been extremely vocal over unreliable population figures, and campaigned to central government for greater funding. Slough has estimated it faces losing £15m in central government grant up to the next census in 2011, and Westminster faces a loss of £12m.
‘The problem is the money being generated – by migration – isn’t necessarily finding its way back down to the local level,’ Sir Simon Milton, chairman of the LGA, added.
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