Agenda item

The Director of WRS introduced the report on fireworks control and stated that this report was in response to a range of issues experienced by councillors at both district and county level in relation to fireworks. The report before the Board was intended to provide support for elected members in dealing with these questions as it was highlighted that the legal position provided local authorities with very limited influence over the use of fireworks by members of the public.

It was noted that Worcestershire County Council (WCC) was the licensing authority for the storage of explosives. Going back 10-20 years, around 100-120 premises would be licensed annually to store fireworks, but this number had been falling with only 63 premises submitting applications for this fireworks season. Most premises sell fireworks for limited periods only around Bonfire Night, (usually 3 weeks before and 1 week after) and for a short time around the New Year period. Only two businesses in the county held a license to sell fireworks all year round.

WCC Trading Standards team was also responsible for enforcing the legal provisions requiring that fireworks sold in the county be manufactured to the relevant standard and that fireworks were not sold to minors (under 18s).

The use of fireworks was not a licensable activity under the Licensing Act 2003, so public firework displays were not licensed by district councils. People undertaking public displays must ensure the health and safety of those attending and also observe any civil law duty of care they might have to those in the vicinity, but beyond this, controls were limited, and councils had few powers to address activities.

Most firework displays were one-off events and, because of the transitory nature of noise from such displays, it was likely that a single display, by itself, could not constitute a statutory nuisance that could be dealt with under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, especially if the terminal hours outlined in law are observed. Currently there was a noise limit for fireworks sold via retail of 120dB, although pressure groups were campaigning to have this reduced to 90dB.

The law specified cut-off (curfew) times for the use of fireworks which was 11pm for all nights except for bonfire night, when the cut off was midnight and 1am for New Year, Diwali and Chinese New Year celebrations, and this was enforced by the Police.

It was stated that the County Council issued licenses to premises through its Trading Standards service. Where a premise applied for a fireworks license, and it had not held one previously, that premise would be visited to ensure that it was suitable. Appropriate conditions would also be attached to the licence. Following the initial visit, Officers would only license the premises for 12 months and, following this, the applicant could apply for longer, but Officers would undertake a risk assessment of the premises to determine whether it was suitable for a further licence of between one to five years.

It was reported that the County Council’s Trading Standards team had not been made aware of significant issues with the misuse of fireworks in recent years. Only one incident, a referral from the Police, was raised with the Trading Standards during the last firework season. Many of the issues raised by members of the public relate to what was currently the legitimate use of fireworks by other residents in their gardens, or the noise from one-off organised displays.

The Parliamentary Petitions Committee looked at the issue of fireworks in 2018 with input from a range of experts from the Health and Safety Executive, Trading Standards, Environmental Health, the National Police Chiefs Council and the National Fire Chiefs Council, as well as those calling for changes to the law. The Committee felt that an outright ban on sales of fireworks to the public risked unintended consequences including a black market in the products, however it did make recommendations, including that legislation be introduced to allow local authorities to tackle the issues in relation to fireworks. The onset of the covid pandemic had meant that Government had not taken any action in this area since the Parliamentary Petitions Committee met.

A Board Member asked whether any testing of fireworks was undertaken. The Director of WRS responded that testing of firework products for compliance was expensive, with only a small number of testing facilities in the UK, which meant that trading standards officers relied primarily on product labelling checks to establish compliance and whether legal fireworks were being sold. Paperwork, such as receipts and invoices, would also be reviewed to establish the source of fireworks to help assess the likelihood of them complying.

In response to a comment about restaurants or similar establishments breaking the curfew on fireworks, it was stated that this would breach the law and Police could be alerted in such cases.

It was requested a briefing note be developed from this paper and that action be taken to circulate this to all elected members across the six partner authorities. It was also requested that the potential effect of fireworks on ex-service personnel be added to the report alongside the potential detriment to animals and others. Officers undertook to complete this action.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.