Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Quieter fireworks plea to retailers
As Monklands gets set to usher in the New Year, retailers across North Lanarkshire will be asked to stock quieter fireworks for public sale, and a new awareness campaign is to be launched across the area highlighting their impact on animals and vulnerable people.
Councillors unanimously agreed this week to take action on the issue – including writing to the UK government calling for new legislation to limit the maximum noise level of private displays to 90 decibels.
A combined motion put forward by Labour representative Angela Campbell and Coatbridge South SNP counterpart Tracy Carragher was agreed by all parties at the council’s full assembly last week.
North Lanarkshire’s call for tighter regulation came after a particularly busy Bonfire Night, described as “distressing” by depute council leader Paul Kelly, when a lack of organised public displays due to coronavirus restrictions meant many more individual fireworks were set off in neighbourhoods around Monklands and across the authority area – with two houses in Motherwell being set ablaze.
Council officers will now “work to encourage local suppliers to stock ‘quieter’ fireworks for public sale,” while the future awareness campaign will also highlight “precautions that can be taken to mitigate risks” around firework use.
The authority will also write
to both Westminster and Holyrood, with each parliament having certain relevant powers – asking respectively
for a legal fireworks noise limit to be introduced by the UK government, and for the Scottish Parliament to use its
powers to prevent their use impacting animal welfare.
Councillor Campbell said: “This year more than any before, we saw the impact fireworks can have on our communities, sometimes even with tragic consequences.
“It’s my hope that we can raise awareness of the dangers of fireworks for animals and vulnerable people, limit the decibel level and encourage our local suppliers to stock quieter fireworks. This is an issue where the Scottish and UK governments must work together.”
Holyrood concluded a review into the use of fireworks last month, gathering more than 16,000 responses and which resulted in recommendations to the parliament to introduce restrictions on where and when fireworks can be used, as well as the allowable dates and volumes for their sale.
Councillor Carragher told the Advertiser: “Every single year we have an unbelievable amount of enquiries regarding fireworks, and it’s not just Bonfire Night – they start going off in October and it can go on for months and we see them being used at lots of different times.
“I’m really pleased that Angela and I worked together on this and that councillors of all parties agreed with this motion, which was uncontested.
“She spoke really well about the impact on hearing, and we need the UK parliament to take action on the maximum noise levels.
“We recognise that there’s concern over fireworks, and the agreement on this shows that North Lanarkshire is listening, the Scottish Government is listening and we need Westminster to listen too.”
This year more than any before, we saw the impact fireworks can have on our communities