Elected Member Briefing - Alternative methods of celebration

About this briefing note

Report by: Michael Boyle, Events Officer and Robert Lyle, Regulatory Services Manager

Date: 31 March 2023

Subject: Alternative methods of celebration

Responsible Officer: Michael Boyle, Events Officer and Robert Lyle, Regulatory Services Manager

Purpose

On 21 December 2022, Council considered a motion on Alternative Methods of Celebration by Councillors B Leishman and E Drysdale. At that meeting, it was agreed to defer consideration of the motion until the next meeting of the Council on 8 February 2023. Councillors have further requested to defer consideration until the Council meeting of 10 May 2023. This was to allow more time to prepare and consider further relevant background information prior to any decision.  

The motion requested a move away from:

1. the use of traditional fireworks on Perth & Kinross Council assets, and
2. Perth & Kinross Council sponsorship of fireworks related events. 

During the discussion, further information was requested from officers. This was: 

• Would the Council still require to give approval for the use of any Council land for a fireworks event if the event was agreed by another body (e.g. Round Table, Common Good)? 
• The legal position on whether the Common Good Fund committees would require to adhere to Council policy if the Council did agree the motion?

Briefing Information

This briefing note covers some contextual information in relation to how many events are held on Council land, the number of complaints received about fireworks over the last 5 years, religious exemptions, the legal position and feedback received from Police Scotland and Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in relation to the cancellation of firework events. 

Further information can be provided about potential mitigations if required. 

Contextual Background 

There are three events which presently fall within the remit of locations where traditional fireworks are held on either a Council asset or are Council managed/sponsored. 

Complaints regarding fireworks

The Regulatory Services team have supplied details regarding fireworks event complaints. This is broken down by type of event.

There have been 17 complaints received over five years, four of which relate to locations where traditional fireworks are held on either a Council asset or at Council managed/sponsored events.  

Religious Exemptions 

Religious festivals such as Chinese New Year and Diwali also take place within Perth and Kinross and are permitted to have fireworks/pyrotechnic displays at defined times under the Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Act 2022. 

Legal position  

The South Inch is part of Perth Common Good assets. Common Good Fund Committees are committees of the Council, and the only difference is that separate provision must be made for their accounts. Accordingly, they are still expected to operate in accordance with any wider Council policy.  

The one qualification to this is one which applies to all Council decision making - whether at Council, committee or officer delegated level. This is to say, a Council policy opposing the organising or funding of firework events obviously cannot prevent a funding application for fireworks or a firework event application on Council land being submitted. If such an application is submitted, it cannot be automatically refused because it is in contravention of the policy. There is always a public law obligation on the committee or decision maker to consider first whether there is a valid reason which justifies this policy being set aside in a particular case.   

Police Scotland/Scottish Fire and Rescue Service - possible impacts of cancellation of fireworks  

At present, we have managed events and a degree of control as outlined in the table above. Perth and Kinross Council have a duty to organise and manage safe and legal events. Cancellation of these events could lead to unsolicited events taking place. 

Police Scotland were asked to express their position on the merits, or otherwise, of large public firework displays versus more localised displays. This was with particular attention to the public order aspect of discontinuing public organised fireworks events and the anti-social behaviour aspect. 

Police Scotland comment as follows: "From a Policing point of view we have found the removal of Public Firework displays to be challenging in that it only encourages unofficial use/misuse of Fireworks and subsequent increase in anti-social behaviour at various locations."  

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) viewpoint is that advice is provided through their website, also through leaflets and engagement with community groups and schools. This is quite clear regarding attending organised displays. This states that: "It is safer, better for the environment and often less expensive to attend organised public firework displays. SFRS always advise to attend an organised event. Scotland's fire crews are up to four times busier than usual on November 5th, wasting time and resources attending unsafe bonfires." 

The local advice regarding a ban was that, if the result is an increase in unauthorised displays, then this may lead to greater risk to the public from unsafe bonfires, misuse of fireworks and increase in anti-social behaviour.