WHAT should have been a celebration of a huge achievement for York and North Yorkshire today has ended in a row.

York and North Yorkshire was today declared among the top European Regions and Cities of the Future.

The area was a joint runner-up in the UK leg of the competition - which attracted a total of 35 cities, regions and sub-regions - and was second with East Midlands only to Scotland, which will now compete against major cities, regions and small countries in Europe.

But amid the celebration, particularly from Inward investment agency, york-england.com, which entered York and North Yorkshire in the competition, another entrant - Yorkshire Forward - is crying "foul!"

Scotland is a country not a region, complained Theresa Lindsay, head of marketing for the regional development agency. "It's unfair," she told a competition organiser at fDi Magazine, a business publication which focuses on the issues of attracting foreign direct investment.

She told the Evening Press: "I complained that it was unfair to pit a region against a whole country. Had categories been more clearly defined, North Yorkshire would have won and the whole profile of Yorkshire Forward would have been raised.

"You would be hard pressed to compare education, IT, schools, hospitals and investment potential between Scotland and the regions or even sub-regions."

Charles Tiggott, one of the researchers for fDi Magazine said: "I did receive a complaint from Yorkshire Forward, but I pointed out that we also let some smaller countries like Slovenia enter in their own right."

But Imelda Havers, chief executive of york-england.com, said: "We are not into sour grapes. We are into selling York and North Yorkshire and we are delighted with this endorsement of our area as a place to locate to.

"We feel that good accessibility, low costs, an educated and skilled workforce, and superb quality of life have won through."

Brian Caplen, editor of the magazine, said: "York and North Yorkshire particularly impressed our panel of judges for its cost-effective human resources, reasonable housing costs and effective promotion strategy."

The research showed that York and North Yorkshire was one of the cheapest areas for an inward investor to rent an office. It was one of the cheapest areas for the cost of mid-level management and was in the top three for the highest percentage of population with a university degree at 22 per cent.

Rentals for four-bedroom and executive homes were also relatively cheap and the sub-region scored heavily on human resources, transport, IT and telecommunications infrastructure.

Updated: 11:18 Tuesday, September 07, 2004