THE number of hours of low-flying by the RAF over the North-East has increased for the fourth year running.

It takes the total increase in low-flying over the last four years to more than 500 hours and is the highest figure since 1998.

A total of 3,430 hours were flown in the 12 months to March this year, up from 3,364 hours the previous year and from 2,902 in 1999/2000. In 1998 the figure was 3,893.

However the rise in the last year was just under two per cent -- and slightly less than the average increase across the country, which was 2.6 per cent.

Last night the RAF insisted the primary reason for the rise was the recent conflict in the Middle East.

"There was a big push to increase training and prepare crews who were likely be sent out to Iraq," said an air force spokesman.

"Most of the increase can be attributed to training in anticipation for war, which was seen as the most prudent thing to do." Junior defence minister Ivor Caplin also linked the increase to preparations for active operations _ as well as the introduction of the Apache helicopter.

He said the amount of low flying was "the minimum necessary" for aircrew to achieve the skills needed _ and he pointed out that the total number of hours flown nationwide had fallen by 29 per cent since detailed records were first kept, in 1995.

The Ministry of Defence figures show that of the 3,430 hours flown in 2002/3, around three-quarters, 2,510, were in fixed-wing aircraft and the remainder, 921, in helicopters.

The North East low flying area, known as LFA 12, covers Northumberland, County Durham and the north east part of North Yorkshire.

It is regarded as ideal for military low flying because of its challenging terrain and its largely unrestricted airspace above 2,000 ft.

The MoD report The Pattern of Military Low Flying says: "It is sparsely populated and generally experiences better weather than to the west of the country."

The RAF has identified 2,321 square miles of airspace it can use above the North-East, 3.4 per cent of the total area available across the UK.

Scotland and Wales are comfortably the RAF's most popular low-flying areas, with the South West, Cumbria and the East - covering parts of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire - also used more than the North-East.