THE people of Portsmouth are richer than their Southampton counterparts - and that's official.

Pompey has pulled ahead of us in the wealth stakes for the first time.

In just three years Portsmouth residents have turned around a deficit of more than £1,000 per person to overtake their Southampton rivals.

Now people living in the historic Royal Navy port are up by £156 a year, according to figures produced by the Titchfield-based Office of National Statistics.

The shock finding is bound to intensify the good-natured but intense rivalry between the two neighbours.

In 2001, the latest year for which figures were available, Portsmouth residents produced an average of £15,698 each, just ahead of Southampton's average of £15,542.

It completes a remarkable turn-around for Portsmouth which, back in 1998, used to lag almost £1,000 behind with a total of £14,083 against Southampton's £15,003.

And it is the latest blow to Southampton's economic prestige as Portsmouth muscles in on a number of success stories.

Shipbuilder VT Group - formerly Vosper Thornycroft - moved along the coast from its historic Woolston site to a £50m one at Portsmouth docks late last year.

And Pompey also snatched the prestigious BT Global Challenge sailing event from its home at Ocean Village.

Portsmouth is also reaping the rewards of headline projects that are transforming the city, bringing yet more inward investment.

Its 165-metre high Spinnaker Tower, costing £24m, is the centrepiece of the £86m renaissance of Portsmouth Harbour, which includes the Gunwharf Quays shopping and entertainment complex.

Its football club also found itself riding the financial crest of a wave with promotion to the Premiership League.

There was even talk of the big-draw Boat Show being poached from Southampton, although that rumour proved unfounded.

The productivity figures from the Office of National Statistics are produced by dividing the total monetary output of a city by the number of people who live there.

Currently 217,400 people live in Southampton, with 186,700 in Portsmouth.

Portsmouth has smaller businesses and more manufacturing than Southampton, which in turn has more company head offices and a bigger services sector.

Maureen Newton, deputy chief executive of the Portsmouth and South-East Hampshire Chamber of Commerce, described the results as "encouraging".

She added: "More people live and work in the city - there's more of a loyalty factory in Portsmouth.

"There is good-natured rivalry, but more businesses rely on the whole Solent region doing well as they don't respect local authority boundaries."

Catherine Wright of Southampton and Fareham Chamber of Commerce, said: "Like any statistic it's just a snapshot in time and is pretty useless.

"You have to look at trends over time. It could be that Southampton went through a massive push like the WestQuay effect a few years ago and then what happens afterwards is that you get a lull.

"It wouldn't surprise me that if we look next year we will have leapfrogged them."

The head of regional accounts for National Statistics, David Vincent, explained that while there was a rise in economic activity in Portsmouth, there might be more to the story.

He said: "There is more economic activity in Portsmouth - you can see it in the figures - but the total in Southampton is always going to be greater because it is a bigger area.

"You could find that there are more jobs in Portsmouth and that there are more people commuting in to do these jobs but they are not living there so they don't work as a denominator.

"Southampton is a bigger city and has more industry, so more people live there, so it would drive the figure down.

"If more people live and work in an area then it affects the figures."

City Council leader Adrian Vinson defended Southampton saying it was a shopping mecca, a regional entertainment centre, a research and learning leader and was also attracting prestige development and investment.

He said: "I don't want to get into a war of words with Portsmouth.

"We both need to be successful cities and there are half a dozen areas I have outlined where Southampton leads the field, and if there are areas where Portsmouth leads the field then that's the nature of the global economy.

"Yes, of course we would have liked to keep Vosper Thornycroft but I think everyone understands why they had to move from a site that was too cramped.

"These figures are only one of a number of possible measures of economic performance and competitiveness. What ultimately counts is that Southampton plays its part as a leading city in south Hampshire, something I believe we are doing successfully."

Portsmouth City Council leader Phil Shaddock said: "We might raise a glass but we are not going to have a party. We would like our neighbours to be just as successful and work in partnership with us."