Arun trio speak at conference on migration

They highlighted the work by Arun District Council and its partners to integrate the thousands of eastern Europeans who have moved into the area in recent years.

Cllr Paul Dendle, in charge of Arun's finances and central services, was joined by the council's head of strategy and partnership, Jaqui Ball, and Chief Inspector Brian Bracher, of Sussex Police, at the Brussels conference on Tuesday.

Arun has the second highest number of eastern European migrants on the worker registration scheme in the south east of England. Just over 4,000 registered between May 2004 and December 2007.

The audience at the conference in Brussels included members of the European Commission and officials from Lithuania and the UK.

Cllr Dendle said: "There are many agencies in Arun that have been working together over a number of years to help migrant workers settle here.

"A major element of that work has been to consult with new residents from Portugal, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia to understand their issues and needs.

"If Britain is to be a cohesive society, its citizens have to be able to speak to each other and share experiences and the same essential liberal democratic values.

"Integration is really the only way forward, and we need to reach out to these new communities and truly integrate them to the British way of life."