The Chairman of Lancashire County Council’s Finance and General Purposes Committee, County Councillor Chris Cheetham and the Chairman of the Lancashire Combined Fire Authority, County Councillor Niki Penney have launched a campaign aimed at tightening the controls on fireworks.

Lancashire County Council’s Trading Standards Department has produced a leaflet outlining the problem caused by fireworks and containing five recommendations to improve public safety and reduce seasonal nuisance problems.

The recommendations are:

• All exploding/reporting fireworks should be banned from sale unless part of manufacturers mixed packs in which they are a minority item.
• All category 3 ’25 metre’ fireworks should be prohibited from sale to the public and all category 4 fireworks should only be supplied to professional users who produce evidence of training and insurance available for local authority scrutiny.
• The current firework registration system should be replaced with a more appropriate registration/licence scheme for applicants and premises.
• If restricted sales periods are to be maintained then consideration should be given to statutory sales period(s).
• Powers to enforce firework legislation in respect of itinerant firework sellers should be extended to include local authority enforcement.

The leaflet will be sent to organisations across Lancashire with a letter urging them to lobby for the recommendations to be taken up by the Government. The leaflet and letter will go to local MP’s, the Local Government Association, The Department for Trade and Industry as well as ROSPA, Age Concern and other organisations involved with vulnerable groups.

County Councillor Cheetham said:

" I would ask people to write to their MP’s supporting the County Council’s firework campaign.

"Every year there are injuries caused by fireworks, and recently the number of calls the Council has had about nuisance and dangerous fireworks has been increasing. Better regulation will mean everyone will enjoy the firework season more and be safer."

County Councillor Penney added:

"We are becoming increasingly concerned about the growing number of calls we have to firework related incidents. In the wrong hands fireworks can be lethal and we want to ensure tighter controls are made.

"Please support us in our aims to make Lancashire a safer place."

Issued through the Media and Public Relations Group, County Hall, Preston, PR1 9XJ.

For further information please contact Clare Ianson, Senior Press Officer. Tel - 01772 263537 Fax 01772 263553