The arrival of unprecedented numbers of migrant workers in the rural counties of the UK, due to EU enlargement, has created a unique opportunity. Many of these migrants wish to become more than just a source of cheap labour; they aspire to become entrepreneurs. Lincolnshire has already seen a burgeoning of migrant businesses, but these have prospered largely by serving their co-ethnic market. This article examines the barriers and drivers for establishing businesses in the wider regional market and observes the first attempts at providing adequate support mechanisms. With improved language skills, there is potential for migrants to break out of the co-ethnic market and develop sustainable businesses.

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The article examines the case of the Scunthorpe Enterprize Zone (EZ) and the extent to which it is consistent with the Conservative Government's emphasis on the market mechanism. It also looks at the likely impact of this EZ on the local and sub‐regional economy. The article concludes by observing that Scunthorpe District Council was quick to take advantage of its EZ status, which has already generated a significant number of jobs for the town, but at the possible cost of jobs in other parts of the sub region. Finally the Scunthorpe case would appear to support the view that the implementation of the policy has been in contradiction to the original objectives of central Government.

Part of the bedrock of the European Union's (EU's) Environmental Policy is the principle that those who pollute the environment should pay for the cost of remedying the damage they cause (the polluter pays principle) (Article 174 para. 2 TEC ex Article 130r TEC). In addition environmental objectives must be integrated into all the sectoral policies of the European Union (Article 6 TEC ex Article 3c TEC). The Common Agricultural Policy's (CAP's) role at the centre of the EU's sectoral policies would appear to make it an ideal focus for implementing Article 6 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC). If integration of environmental protection can be achieved in this central area of the EU's activities then a major source of environmental degradation could be overcome. However, if these requirements are applied to European agriculture the sector will face a budgetary and financial crisis of even greater magnitude than at the present time. Recent reforms of the CAP have been designed with the objective of achieving an agricultural sector that is moving towards sustainability. As this article argues the political, social and economic significance of the agriculture sector is such that national governments of the EU have repeatedly shied away from adopting the measures, which could significantly reduce the pollution from the sector. The proposals for reform made by the Agricultural Commissioner, Franz Fischler, were amended by the meeting of the European Council that took place in Berlin on 24/25 March 1999. These amendments substantially weakened the ambitions of the strategy for development of the EU, the ‘Agenda 2000’ adopted in 1997, for a number of reasons (CEC, 1997). This article examines the reasons for the disappointments with the amended reforms and speculates on the possible future path that may be taken to improve matters. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

In the past decade, local authorities have become increasingly involved in the development of policies to alleviate the effects of economic decline. In this paper, the authors' primary objective is to determine,the extent to which these policies are being evaluated. They also consider the ways in which evaluation is caried out and the problems associated with this.Most local authorities claim to be involved in some form of evaluation. However, the evidence tends to suggest that little more than monitoring takes place. It seems that the desire to be seen to be doing something to ameliorate the impact of the recession is perhaps more important than the actual effectiveness of local authority economic intervention.