A report into the impact of recent immigration to Brighton and Hove is being kept secret.

Brighton and Hove City Council has been condemned for not releasing the only current investigation into the changes brought about by the new arrivals.

A Freedom of Information request for the report submitted by The Argus has been turned down, despite parts of the document being referenced and quoted in another publicly available report. The investigation, carried out by community safety manager Linda Beanlands, looked into all aspects of immigration to the city - from the effects on health services to employment.

The expansion of the EU has led to thousands of eastern Europeans taking up jobs in the city.

Brighton and Hove is ranked in the top 10% of councils with the highest number of recently arrived migrant workers - nearly 10,000 registered for national insurance numbers in 2006 and 2007.

Council chiefs commissioned Migration To Brighton And Hove: An Initial Overview to investigate for the first time the impact of the population changes.

The information was also passed to consultants analysing levels of inequality in the city.

Their report, Reducing Inequality Review, reads: "Local research identifies that newly arrived migrant workers are likely to be living in multioccupied poor housing and priced out of the rented market."

But the council has refused to make the report available to the public, claiming it would dissuade officers from freely expressing their opinions for fear of having their views released again.

Councillor Gill Mitchell, leader of the Labour opposition, said: "If the council is holding facts and figures which will help us councillors to plan the development of education, skills and training to increase employment locally then we need to be made aware of this."

Councillor Keith Taylor, convener of the Green group, said: "The council needs to understand what is happening in the city and it has a duty to report its findings in a proper way."

Lib Dem councillor Paul Elgood criticised the council for being secretive.

He said: "There is no reason why this report should not be in the public domain. The moment the council keeps reports secret we have to question why."

Referring to the decision, a council spokesman said: "This part of the rules is designed to enable council officers to give advice freely. If officers felt anything they said could go straight into a newspaper they may feel inhibited about giving advice and that could lead to bad decision-making and wasted taxpayers' money."

The Argus has now appealed against the decision.

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