South Holland District Council head of economic and community development Sue Bolter said she is delighted by statistics showing south Lincolnshire has one of the densest populations of Eastern European migrants in the UK.

An Institute for Public Policy Research report estimated the number of Eastern European migrants in South Holland at 5,195, or 42 per 1,000.

Ms Bolter says the increase in the migrant worker population since 2004 has been integral in keeping business in the district and keeping schools running.

And while there have been reports that many Eastern Europeans are leaving the country to return to improved working conditions in their home land, Ms Bolter does not believe this is the case in South Holland.

She said: "Our own research shows that 40 per cent of migrant workers that come to South Holland do so with plans to settle down and we have seen that as most are aged between 18 and 35 and have been starting families here.

"They keep business here. We do grow food here but it does not have to be processed here – the availability of migrant workers keeps them and enables us to compete with the rest of Europe.

"They are now contributing to communities as well. We have seen about 450 to 500 new children coming into the school system, which actually kept open some schools marked for closure."

David Summerland, managing director of Spalding labour provider HireStaff4U, said: "Migrant workers fill a vital need for jobs that would not ordinarily be filled and some local businesses would not exist without them here."

In the early days many were paid below the minimum wage – the report shows 5.6 per cent still are – but Mr Summerland believes the risks of getting caught are now much greater.

He said: "Suppliers for supermarkets who are found to provide poor working conditions for their employees are at more risk of getting named and shamed now.

"The supplier could lose their contracts with the supermarkets meaning they lose business."