The retrospective demands, which went back over five years would have cost the dock industry at Grimsby and Immingham -  Immingham now a major fish receiving port - more than £11-million, and some firms thought the demand could out them out of business.

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, David Laws has announced that there  will be a freeze on the bills until the end of the tax year, while ministers consider a long-term solution. It follows the pledge for a review  made by Conservative leader and now Prime Minister David Cameron when he visited Grimsby Fish Market 24 hours before the General Election on May 6th.

While, the commercial section of Grimsby and Immingham would have been the hardest hit, the fishing industry would not have escaped entirely unscathed. The fish market was faced with a large backdated bill estimated at least half a million pounds. But it has emerged that fish processors who have premises on the docks would not have been penalised because their work is not directly related to port shipping movements.

The rates row has been simmering for at least 18 months.The shock was delivered by the Valuation Office Agency after  it changed the way business rates were paid - but it was the agency's demand for backdating to 2005 which sent alarm bills ringing throughout the entire Humber port industry. Previously, business rates had been included in the rent paid to Associated British Ports, the dock landlords.

Grimsby MP Austin Mitchell warned  the then Labour Government that large sections of the port  and fishing industry risk being plunged into technical insolvency unless the plans are scrapped - but it ignored the plea.

This week Grimsby FMA chief executive Steve Norton said the freeze was good news for both the fishing and commercial dock sectors.

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