AN overwhelming majority of people are in favour of holding a referendum on home rule as support grows for a directly elected regional assembly in the North-East, according to a survey.

The results of the Government's "soundings" exercise on whether or not to hold a referendum found that 87 per cent of respondents were in favour of putting the debate over an assembly to the test.

More than a third said they felt a "very strong" interest in a referendum along with 32 per cent who registered strong interest while 11 per cent said they did not support one.

The outcome comes days after an ICM poll for the County Council's Network which showed 67 per cent of those who intended to turn out for a referendum on so-called mini parliaments would vote "yes".

Tony Flynn, chairman of the North-East Assembly, said: "The strength of feeling in the North-East on holding a referendum has been expressed loudly and clearly through this soundings exercise.

"It is now time for the Government to listen to the voice of the region and move swiftly towards sanctioning a referendum in the North-East in 2004."

The survey took in a wide spectrum of views from local authorities, MPs, and universities to charities, trade unions and the health sector.

Gill Hale, regional secretary of Unison Northern Region, said: "There are a great many people in the region with abilities and talents and we have to open up the political pro-cess to allow those people the opportunity to participate."

John Cuthbert, managing director of Northumbrian Water, said: "We believe that there needs to be sufficient time to consider in detail the function, powers and duties of an assembly and this can only be done following an agreement to hold a referendum."

Two weeks ago, it was revealed that the district auditor is investigating claims that the North-East Assembly was using public funds to actively promote a "yes" campaign for regional devolution.

Neil Herron, from North- East Against a Regional Assemblies, said the latest statistics were misleading.

"This isn't driven by the masses of the North-East. This is a few people who have bothered to respond.There is a lot of apathy out there because people are not interested in regional government."