REGIONAL development agency One NorthEast has met or exceeded all its targets for the last year.

But, according to the organisation's chairman, Dr John Bridge, it is still struggling to convince people in some communities that it has their best interests at heart.

The agency, three years into its ten-year development plan, helped to create 12,878 jobs and safeguarded a further 5,908 in the past year.

That means it has helped to create 29,210 jobs and safeguarded 16,640 in the three years since it was established.

The figures are contained in the annual report, posted to 1,000 business across the region yesterday.

Dr Bridge said: "The figures speak for themselves, but yet there are still communities in the region that feel disillusioned and excluded from the work we are doing for a variety of reasons.

"We are actively seeking to redress that problem by improving access to education and the labour market by improving transport links and the general infrastructure of the region.

"There is still a lot to be done. Development in the North-East is half about image and half about attitude. We have got to improve people's attitude about the region.

"Our regional image strategy, Here.Now, launched earlier this year, shows that people outside the North-East have a better opinion of it than the residents themselves. We are working on ways to change that opinion in the region."

Part of the way forward, according to Dr Bridge, is to put more resources into the sub-regional partnerships in areas such as the Tees Valley.

He said: "We are allowing the sub-regional partnerships, such as the one established for the Tees Valley, to have more say in how their areas develop.

"If they come up with serious ideas that will improve the area and benefit the people, then we will make the money available from our budget to get the job done, if it matches our overall regional economic strategy."

He added: "Through regeneration projects like Middlehaven we are creating the building blocks for the future.

"However, we also need to recognise and support people with good ideas and have the courage to back the risk takers.

"That is why One NorthEast played a leading role in the establishment of the Regional Centre for Manufacturing Excellence and the Science and Industry Council.

"The region has good a science base and we need to exploit that through better links between our universities and industry."

He concluded: "Overall, its been a good third year in our ten-year plan, but it is a long term process and there remains a lot still to be done.

"Over the next year we will be looking at ways to improve the business support network, and improve access to finance for new start-up businesses.

"We will also work on changing attitudes within the North-East. We must fight to be positive and not dwell on the negative because negativity only drags us down.

"With the wealth of talent at our disposal we can take on the world and win, making the region a better place for everyone to work, live and do business."