The East of England Development Agency (EEDA) has beaten its target for new business start-ups after 103 businesses were created last year.

A new report from the Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) also said that 519 jobs had been created or saved across the region between April and September 2002.

DTI Minister Alan Johnson said: "I'm delighted that, through working with its partners, EEDA has been able to make such a positive contribution to improving the economic prospects of the east of England."

Mr Johnson added that he was pleased with the launch of the region's Centre for Manufacturing Excellence at Ford's technical facility in Dunton, Essex, at the end of last year.

Training boost

Bill Samuel, EEDA chief executive, said: "We are also on course to meet our annual targets for education and skills and business performance."

The agency said it had helped to boost the number of skilled employees in eastern counties with the creation of 1,030 learning opportunities.

However, Mr Samuels said the EEDA did not do as well as expected in efforts to promote the reuse of "brownfield" land by the private sector.

"Brownfield" sites take up to two years to develop

He said that sites abandoned by manufacturers take up to two years to develop.

EEDA said it wants to make the East of England - comprising Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk - one of the top 20 European regions by 2010.

But the agency said the region needs better transport links and more affordable housing, better adoption of good manufacturing processes, company structuring and access to finance in order to improve its standing.

The region is third out of the 11 UK regions in terms of economic performance, but only 28th out of 77 European regions.