NEW rules that would have had a "devastating" impact on traditional North-East fishing have been shelved.
Small tractors, which are used to pull beach-launched boats such as cobles, were to be banned under European emissions legislation.
But they were given an 11th-hour reprieve yesterday after intervention.
The European Parliament met to discuss the stringent new legislation, and voted to exempt the tractors.
The amendment was tabled by Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies at the request of the party's European spokeswoman for the North-East, Fiona Hall.
She said the new rules would have had a devastating effect on communities such as Redcar, in east Cleveland, Cullercoats, on North Tyneside, and at Boulmer and Newbiggin, in Northumberland.
She said: "The new EU proposals are designed to cut major emissions from railway locomotives and canal boat engines. They are not appropriate for veteran little tractors which run for just a few minutes a day.
"If the tractors had been banned, the centuries-old North East tradition of fishing from beach-launched boats could not have continued. I am absolutely delighted that this threat to coble fishing is now over."
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