YORK has been ranked amongst the best small cities in Europe for its economic development.

City of York Council has picked up an award from the Financial Times FDI magazine, recognising the city's position in the top ten in Europe under two categories.

It is ranked ninth in the small European cities overall category and eighth in the small European cities FDI strategy category.

The rankings seek to recognise cities across the continent for their economic infrastructure and strategies, and York was praised for its investment and strategy for attracting foreign investment.

The report also acknowledged York’s economic infrastructure, business friendliness and economic potential, said a council spokeswoman.

She said the award demonstrated the city’s progress against York’s Economic Strategy, launched in 2012, which set out ambitions for the city to be a top ten European city by 2015, meaning the city has reached this milestone a year ahead of schedule.

Council leader James Alexander said receiving the award was hugely encouraging and showed that people were looking at York’s economic infrastructure as something to aspire to. "The fact that the city features in the alongside cities such as Utrecht and Grenoble is great," he said.

Chief executive Kersten England said:  "This is great news and is the result of the organisation working alongside partners with a planned approach to ensure the city remains a nationally competitive and becomes an internationally leading city economy.

"With this award we have achieved our goal of becoming a top ten European city by 2015, a year ahead of schedule."