By Liz Fowler

THE CHAIRMAN of Brechin Community Council has issued a call for closer integration of the local community with its growing population of foreign nationals.

Referring to the shocking death in the burgh two months ago of Lithuanian woman Jolanta Bledaite, whose severed head and hands were found on Arbroath beach, Douglas Murray said, “We have to be more aware of the effects, and needs, of the incoming migrant population.

“We have fairly large numbers of migrant workers in Brechin now, and if these people are here to stay we should be looking at closer integration with them.

“We should be looking at how their presence is going to impact on Brechin and the whole of Angus and how we are going to address their needs in the future.

“Besides those involved on the surrounding land in fruit-picking and other essential work in the agricultural sector, we have different ethnic pockets now in the burgh operating through the retail sector and we’ve just had the Swan public house taken over by people from India.

“We have to welcome these incoming populations. They are playing an important role in filling what would otherwise be big black holes in the local economy.

“I would like to see the community council take a more proactive role in identifying their needs and helping address them.

“After all on the same nights as we hold our meetings, in the Damacre Centre, we have a language class going on next door for the migrants.

“I would like to think they could come to the community council, too, if they have any issues or problems. This is something I would hope we can give more thought to in the future.”

Ms Bledaite’s head and hands were discovered wrapped in plastic bags on Arbroath beach by children playing on April 1 and four days later further body parts in a suitcase were recovered from the harbour by a police diving team.

The 35-year-old who had been living at Earlsden House in Brechin’s Southesk Street had disappeared a few days earlier and her flat was also the subject of detailed forensic examination.

Lithuanian nationals Aleksandras Skirda (19) of Earlsden House, and Vitas Plytnykas (40) of Hillview also in Brechin have been charged with her murder, attempting to defeat the ends of justice and theft.

Daily life in Brechin was back to as normal as it could be after the gruesome events of early April, which brought the burgh international attention for the worst possible reason, said Mr Murray.

However, the chairman warned, “When the case comes to court it is all going to be brought up again and Brechin will be back in the news again.”

The population decline of Angus since 1995 has been reversed in recent years entirely as a result of immigration.

A study into the local immigrant labour population was recently undertaken by Scottish Economic Research on behalf of Angus Council, Perth and Kinross Council, Communities Scotland and Scottish Enterprise Tayside.

It revealed that during the summer of 2005 there were up to 4500 migrants working in Tayside with 22% of that number based in Angus.

The study also showed that many of the jobs undertaken by migrant workers were in rural areas and were primarily in elementary/low skilled occupations in the agricultural, tourism/hospitality and food processing sectors.

The reasons that employers gave for employing migrant workers were that there was an under-supply of workers and of certain skills locally and because they felt that migrant workers were more flexible and productive.