THE amount of industrial emissions in the North-East fell by 12 per cent between 1998 and last year, according to a report.

The State of the Environment report, released by the North-East region of the Environment Agency, says there have been reductions of 80 per cent in releases of nitrous oxide, 70 per cent in sulphur dioxide and 35 per cent in carbon monoxide.

It claims several factors, including increased environmental awareness, contrib-uted to the drop.

The report highlights cases where the agency is working with industry, agriculture and local authorities to tackle pollution, floods, environmental crime and the impacts of production and consumption, using its own and Government indicators.

It says companies are now less likely to release effluent and toxic chemicals into the Tees estuary, and praises the introduction of the Tees barrage, creating a freshwater lake.

It says that, as a result, about 7,000 salmon and 13,000 sea trout entered the Tees last year, and highlights the fact that there are now more than 80 common and grey seals breeding successfully on Seal Sands - double the figure for the late 1980s.

But among the problems identified in the North-East region, which stretches from Chesterfield, in Derbyshire, to Berwick-on-Tweed, Northumberland, is a chemical spill in 1999 at the Tioxide Europe plant which affected marshland at the mouth of the Tees estuary, for which company was fined £150,000.

The report also refers to ongoing court action against Newcastle City Council and Contract Heat and Power over the spreading of toxic ash on pathways and allotments.

For details, log on to www.environmentagency.gov.uk/northeast-stateoftheenvironment