A BATLEY-BORN businessman is climbing the rankings of Britain’s richest people.

Lawrence Tomlinson, chairman of LNT Group, has been rated the sixth wealthiest person in Yorkshire in the Sunday Times Rich List.

He is also ranked 151st in the 2011 national table with a personal wealth of £500m. That compares with a placing of 168th in last year’s rankings at £400m.

Mr Tomlinson’s Leeds-based LNT Group has five main companies which include car manufacturer Ginetta, Ideal Care Homes and LNT Construction.

The list of the 10 richest people in Yorkshire – to be published tomorrow is headed by brothers Eddie and Malcolm Healey, developers of Meadowhall, whose property deals have added £250m to their joint fortune which now stands at £1.5bn.

The sale last year of sofa retailer DFS to private equity group Advent International has catapulted founder Lord Kirkham into the rank’s of Yorkshire’s billionaires.

The Tory peer is third on the regional list with a fortune of £1bn – an increase of £570m on last year – and climbs to 67th in the national rankings from 158 a year ago.

Second place on the list goes to retired supermarket king Sir Ken Morrison and family, who have been knocked off the top spot but still have a fortune of £1.03bn.

Sir Ken, founder of Bradford-based Morrisons, slipped to 64 in the national table from 30th last time after reducing his family’s holding in the retailer to about 9%.

The Yorkshire list also includes duty-free shopping entrepreneur Robert Miller in equal 3rd spot with Lord Kirkham. Mr Miller is 67th nationally with a fortune of £1bn.

Tony Murray, whose business interests include plant hire, property and fire protection, is fifth in the region and 104th nationally on £690m.

The 23rd annual Sunday Times Rich List profiles the 1,000 richest people and families in the UK based on identifiable wealth such as land, property and shares in publicly-quoted companies.