RAPID growth in output and new business is resulting in the strongest employment gains seen in the South East region for five years.

The good news came from an upbeat regional report, produced for the Royal Bank of Scotland, which revealed November was another month of substantial growth in output - mirroring the trend across the UK.

Order book growth overtook October's three-year high and the South East was ahead of the level recorded for the economy.

The strength of recovery in the employment market gathered momentum to expand at its fastest rate since 1998, output price inflation was the sharpest since April 2001 and the pricing power of South East firms remained stronger than in the UK economy as a whole.

And Basingstoke is not being left behind in the upturn, according to Paul Marston, director for commercial banking at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

Mr Marston, whose area covers Basingstoke, Newbury and the Blackwater Valley, said: "Confidence in the town definitely appears to have picked up since September, and many of our customers are pushing forward with their investment plans.

"We stand ready to help local businesses with these as well as helping ensure they have the right working capital facility in place to fund an increase in sales turnover."

Stuart Porteous, senior economist at the RBS, took a look at the region and said: "Things just get better for the South East.

"Output growth remained close to October's record high, new orders have been picked up, and now private sector employment is growing at its fastest rate for five years.

"These trends are consistent with our forecasts for an acceleration in UK GDP growth to three per cent in 2004."

He added: "This was one of the fastest growing regions in the UK in November, and we expect this to continue in 2004, which looks like it will be a very strong year."