Hi Pete,
It sounds like you're new to SEO, so I would recommend reading the SEOMoz guides to get yourself started: http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo/growing-popularity-and-links
In particular look at the 'Link Building Basics' & '5 Samples of Link Building Strategies' sections.
There's plenty of tools to help you analyze competitors links, and to help you find potential websites to get links from, but understanding what type of links you need & why is far more important.
Good luck!
Greg