Local services across England are coming under huge strain as a result of unprecedented levels of immigration, council chiefs said yesterday.

They accused the Government of failing to take account of the massive influx of migrant workers, especially from eastern Europe, in their financial settlement for local government.

Councils say there are not enough houses for the extra workers. Public services, including transport, schools and hospitals, are finding it hard to cope with the additional numbers. Yet official figures are under-estimating the scale of the migration.

The alarm was sounded yesterday by Cheryl Coppell, the chief executive of Slough borough council, Berks.

Thousands of workers from the EU accession states have descended on the town, which has high employment levels.

Over the past 18 months, about 9,000 new National Insurance numbers have been issued in Slough, of which just 150 went to British nationals. Yet, in 2004, the Office for National Statistics recorded only 300 international migrants settling in the area.

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