Staples Vegetables to house Romanian and Bulgarian students in caravans Staples Vegetables supplies some of country's leading supermarketsÂ Firm has been given council permission to expand on-site accommodation in Boston, Lincolnshire to take on more EU labourÂ Decision has angered locals and made the town a key Ukip targetÂ A food company is planning to house hundreds of students from Romania and Bulgaria in caravans because it canâ€™t recruit domestic workers. Staples Vegetables, which supplies some of the countryâ€™s leading supermarkets, has angered locals by announcing it will pitch dozens of caravans near Boston in Lincolnshire. The firm has been given council permission to expand its on-site accommodation to take on more EU student labour because of an â€˜inability to recruit from the indigenous populationâ€™. Staples is planning to extend on-site accommodation in Boston, Lincolnshire. Pictured, workers harvest vegetables in a field in Suffolk Staples employs up to 378 students and this could rise to 650 in the peak season. The company is based on the outskirts of the village of Wrangle, just nine miles north of Boston, which has experienced a higher population percentage increase of new arrivals from Eastern Europe than anywhere else in the UK. Tensions in the town have made Boston a key Ukip target, with a recent poll suggesting 46 per cent of residents would vote for the party in the Mayâ€™s General Election. Staples was given approval by Boston Borough Council to make its current 63 on-site caravans and amenity buildings permanent, while adding a further 52 caravans. The students are hired for up to 126 days through the Harvesting Opportunities Permit Scheme and are paid at least the adult minimum wage. The companyâ€™s planning statement says it suffers an â€˜inability to recruit from the indigenous populationâ€™, but adds Lincolnshire â€˜still thrives because foreign students visit the area to workâ€™. The statement accuses agency staff of being â€˜often unreliable and unmotivatedâ€™ and says Staples has to regularly retrain and induct new personnel. The foreign students, however, are employed directly by Staples. Managing director Vernon Read said: â€˜We feel that employing people directly is a better system than relying on agency workers â€" it allows us to give better training and get much more continuity in the workforce.â€™ Two years ago, Staples said it received just 11 applications for 130 jobs which were advertised locally. But speaking outside Bostonâ€™s Jobcentre, one unemployed man, who would only give his name as Ed, said employers seemed to be looking for East European workers. He added: â€˜It is very hard to find work in Boston unless you go to one of the agencies who seem to prefer East Europeans. â€˜I know people say the locals wonâ€™t work but that is wrong. The arrival of all the migrants has changed the jobs market so people are taken on in bulk through the agencies.â€™ A Boston cab driver added: â€˜Iâ€™ve got three children of my own and it is difficult for them to get work since all the East Europeans arrived. I donâ€™t think attracting more and putting them in caravans is the answer.â€™ Tensions in Boston have made the town a key Ukip target. Pictured, Nigel Farage in Rochester, where the party is expected to secure its second elected MP