Shining a light on the Chinese lantern debate

Afierce debate has erupted over the merits of Chinese lanterns. On the one hand there is what might be described as the countryside lobby of the RSPCA, the CLA (Country Land and Business Association), farmers and horse owners, who argue they are a hazard to animals, pointing to examples of horses and cattle choking on the lanterns or being burnt by them.

They also say they are a potential fire risk.

On the other hand, those complaining are condemned as spoilsports by those who see the launching of the colourful lanterns into the sky as a legitimate way to celebrate – or to send a tribute in memory of loved ones.

The organisers of a large-scale lantern launch event at the Kent Showground have now bowed to public pressure and cancelled their booking, but they had previously argued their lanterns were a new generation of biodegradable material and, furthermore, they would in any case be able to predict where the lanterns would land, a quarter of a mile away, and would have a team of litter-pickers to collect them.

That sounds as credible as many of the promises we have heard recently from our politicians in the election debate.

It also raises the question of whether they have the right to send their litter-pickers over other people’s land hunting for the fallen lanterns.

If you drop a sweet wrapper in Maidstone High Street today, it is very likely you will have a council civil enforcement officer fine you £80. Yet it seems you can launch a lantern into the sky, knowing it’s going to come down somewhere, with impunity.

We’re on the side of the countryside lobby on this one.