BUSINESS people in North Yorkshire are more optimistic than anyone in the whole of Yorkshire and Humberside.

There are BIG increases in orders, BIG increases in employment and BIG expectations of these trends continuing.

The North Yorkshire "feelgood" factor emerges in the latest CBI/Yorkshire Forward Survey of Regional Economic Trends.

One-fifth of firms in North Yorkshire report that domestic orders have increased over the last year with 24 per cent expecting more of the same over the next six months.

Six per cent of companies have positive expectations for the next six months, compared to a mere one per cent in the region as a whole.

Export orders have also been a reason for optimism in the area with eight per cent of firms reporting a positive year and an identical number feeling confident about the future.

North Yorkshire companies also lead the region in taking on extra staff, with 17 per cent reporting an increase over the last year and 13 per cent predicting that more jobs will be created in the six months ahead.

Sixty per cent of businesses in North Yorkshire have funded workforce training in the last 12 months - the highest of all the sub-regions.

The North Yorkshire business people stand alone in feeling positive about future returns, even though the survey shows that, in common with the rest of Yorkshire and Humber, their profit margins have fallen.

The survey of almost 1,500 Yorkshire and Humber businesses is part of a wider study carried out every six months which aims to give a reliable snapshot of business opinion.

It supports Yorkshire Forward's future development of regional economic investments.

Red tape is seen as the biggest barrier to economic growth right across the region, but 40 per cent of North Yorkshire firms feel inhibited by regulation, compared with 42 per cent in Yorkshire and Humber as a whole.

However, housing costs are a particular difficulty in North Yorkshire with one-fifth of firms highlighting this as a problem in comparison to a regional figure of nine per cent.

Product and process innovation is now the most popular area for additional investment among companies in the region with 16 per cent of firms now expecting to increase funding as a means of improving their competitiveness.

Len Cruddas, chief executive of the York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, pictured, said today: "This survey reinforces our own findings - that there is cautious optimism out there, but at the top of the list of underlying issues is not red tape or housing, but the difficulty finding and keeping people with the right skills."

Updated: 11:01 Thursday, November 17, 2005