Fireworks nights to end as commerce pulls plug

From the Echo, first published Thursday 16th Oct 2003.

COUNCIL chiefs plan to end weekly fireworks on Poole Quay and shelve plans for a laser light display throughout the summer.

As a residents' association collects signatures in protest against weekly fireworks on the grounds that they pose a noise nuisance, officers at Poole council have announced a lack of support from businesses on the Quay means from next summer Thursday night fireworks will probably only be held on the beach.

And hopes for a laser light display to replace fireworks on the Quay also look set to be dashed.

Following royal assent of the Fireworks Act 2003 Orchard Area Residents' Association have started a petition urging the council to use its powers to limit the displays, which run between May and August, to the period of the school holidays to reduce nuisance.

And though co-incidentally the period of fireworks will be reduced by a month in 2004, tourism chiefs are adamant most residents are not troubled by fireworks.

Graham Shaw, head of marketing and tourism at the council, said: "The Poole Opinion Panel showed that 84 per cent of residents don't find the fireworks displays a nuisance."

He added that fireworks in Poole have been deemed not to pose a statutory noise nuisance and said quieter fireworks with more colour are used before the schools break up. He added that reduction in length of the firework season was not as a result of any complaints and was due to a lack of financial input from commerce.

The future of Poole's Thursday night fireworks and laser display will be discussed at a tourism planning meeting tonight but it is thought the recommendation will be for fireworks to be held on the beach at Sandbanks weekly rather than alternating between the Quay and beach.

Archive Home