Large numbers of Eastern European immigrants are starting to leave Bradford.

The district's eastern European population is thought to have more than trebled from less than 5,000 to 15,000 since the expansion of the European Union in 2004.

But the Polish Parish Club, in Bradford, and the Bradford branch of the Federation of Poles said there were strong indications that the boom in immigration from eastern Europe was over.

The changing picture in Bradford is in line with the UK trend where it is estimated that half the eastern Europeans who have come to the UK since 2004 have now gone.

A new report from the Institute of Public Policy Research calculated that a million people from eastern Europe had come to the UK in the past four years, but that 500,000 had since departed.

Jan Niczyperowicz, membership secretary at the Polish Parish Club, in Edmund Street, Bradford, said: "We have noticed that membership has gone down. I know about 50 people who have gone back home.

"They are a transient population who move to find employment. Some have left Bradford and gone to Leeds and quite a few have gone back home."

Mr Niczyperowicz said the pound's devaluation in relation to the Polish currency had narrowed the gap between potential earnings in Bradford and Poland.

He said the club had been inundated with applications two years ago, but was now receiving hardly any.

Helena Danielczuk, chairman of the Bradford branch of the Federation of Poles, said: "There are some who are returning to Poland, but there are still new ones arriving as well.

"Some families have returned because their children have found it difficult to settle in schools. Some of the Catholic schools have been overwhelmed by the number of Polish students arriving in the last few years, the state schools less so because they have had that culture of supporting second-language learners.

"The quality of housing has been another reason for people returning home. A lot of them have been living in sub-standard private housing because they can't get onto the social housing ladder very quickly.

"Two or three families have been sharing accommodation in a house which is only big enough for one family.

"There has also been a conscious effort by the Polish authorities to have them back. The economy is improving in Poland and the value of the pound is not as attractive."