POVERTY, social exclusion and crime is making the lives of thousands of Polish immigrants in East Lancashire a misery, says a new support group.

The project, which is aimed at supporting some of the 5,000 immigrants from Poland and other Eastern European countries, has been set up in a bid to help those who are experiencing difficulty since moving to the area.

The leader of the Lancashire Europa Project, Bernadette Drozd, said there were many who were struggling due to issues including poverty, illness and social isolation.

She said many migrant workers were often working very long hours in difficult conditions or suffering with other problems.

She said: “There is a real need for this type of community work, to go out to the people to listen to their problems and to look at ways of providing help.

“Some people can only communicate in their native language.

"It is important for migrants to have equal access to services as well as the choice to practise their culture and traditions in their own language.

"There is a concern that the people who are working very hard become tired and then disconnected from their families and communities.

“There are over 5,000, mainly Polish migrants, living and working in this area and the Lancashire Europa Project has been set up to meet the demanding needs of this community.

"Our aim is not only to meet the needs of the newly-arrived and settling community but to promote integration, education, health, safety and cohesion with the wider community.”

She said that the project, which was set up last year with the support of the police, has already made positive changes in promoting healthy living and crime awareness.

It works in the boroughs of Blackburn with Darwen, Hyndburn, Ribble Valley, Pendle and Rossendale.

Since Poland joined the EU in 2004 there have been hundreds of thousands of migrant workers coming to the country.

Mrs Drozd said: “The Polish Centre in Preston New Road, Blackburn, has been used to help the police to meet the migrant community via various cultural celebrations, information sessions and crime prevention workshops.”

Polish Immigration

  • Polish immigration has rocketed in recent years with numbers rising from 60,000 residents in 2001 to well over 500,000 now. Some unofficial estimates have even put that number at over one million.
  • Three major events have led to mass immigration from Poland. Most recently was in 2004 when Poland joined the EU, leading to large numbers of economic migrants.
  • In 1947 the Polish Resettlement Act, the UK’s first mass immigration law, was put in place to allow Poles dissatisfied with Communist rule in their home country to settle here.
  • Before that it was the Second World War itself which led to mass immigration to England with hundreds of thousands of Polish soldiers joining the allied war effort.