A HUGE bid is being made to prevent an exodus of businesses from Yorkshire.

Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency, is spending more than £3.5 million setting up a panel of trouble-shooters to smooth the furrowed brows of business leaders who might be considering uprooting their operations and moving out.

Over the last two years, decisions by only six companies to move out of the region, or close, has meant the loss of more than 3,200 jobs.

It illustrates the importance of the presence of big companies with more than 250 people on the payroll. They represent only four per cent of all firms in the region, but account for 42 per cent of employment and half the region's productivity.

The money will be used to set up a key account management team to work with about 600 top companies to spot problems before they become insurmountable.

Susan Johnson, Yorkshire Forward's executive business director, pictured right, said: "The investment and restructuring decisions made by our top companies have a significant impact on our economy. What we want to do is to work with them to make sure that the long term strategic decisions made here by us and other authorities recognise their aims and aspirations.

"In some cases, if we had been more aware of the specific problems that led these companies to make their decisions, such as skills gaps or productivity constraints, we could have done something about it."

The key account managers would identify those problems early. "It is about closing the stable door before the horse has even thought about bolting."

One of the major firms which closed last year was Sara Lee of Bridlington, which crashed when its owner, Hibernia Foods, went into administration last January.

A spokesman for Yorkshire Forward said: "No one knows whether this would have been avoidable if our new team had been in place then, but it may have helped."

The regional development agency believes that the new team could safeguard about 1,500 jobs and ensure that large firms continue to grow. On that basis its efforts could result in 500 more jobs. It could also ensure that about £40 million worth of private investment would continue to flow into the region.

Updated: 10:51 Friday, January 21, 2005