Bonfire Night: Plea for crackdown on yobs causing mayhem after firework hurled at child, 3, in buggy

As Bonfire Night celebrations were held across the nation on Wednesday, the city council backed calls to ban louder fireworks from being sold to the public and to explore setting up ‘firework-free’ zones in the city.

It came amid reports of yobs throwing fireworks and setting blazes close to homes on the Meadow Well estate in North Shields, during which a firework was hurled at a buggy carrying a three-year-old girl.

At a meeting of Newcastle City Council on Wednesday evening, a motion was passed calling for bosses to look into setting up a new licensing scheme for fireworks displays that would designate no firework zones in areas where the noise is “likely to have a greater impact on animals, the environment and vulnerable people”.

It also committed to working with Northumbria Police and other authorities to strengthen patrols in known hotspot areas ahead of next Bonfire Night, seek a report detailing the full scale and impact of firework-related incidents in Newcastle over the last three years, and to write to the Government to request a national ban on the public sale of fireworks over a maximum peak noise level of 70 decibels.

Byker councillor Nick Hartley told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that extra protections “could make a real difference to the lives of people and their pets”.

The Green Party councillor, whose motion on fireworks was passed after being amended by the council’s Lib Dem group, said: “The best firework displays I’ve seen were set to music moments that made us feel connected, warmed, part of something magical. But the magic has been fading.

“Walk through Byker, Walker or the outer west from August onwards and you’ll hear explosions echoing long before November 5. If those public-information films warning us not to play with fireworks are still being shown in schools, it’s clear they’re not working.

“Meanwhile residents in Byker and Walker have been upset by the arrival of a new shop selling fireworks at a time when it feels like we do not have this situation under control.”

He added: “We do need to think about how we as a society are inclusive of those who might struggle with loud noises, whether due to neurodiversity or post-traumatic stress, and if we are a nation of animal lovers we will accept that 120 decibels, similar to the sound of jet engines, is unnecessary when we could use low noise fireworks at 70 decibels instead.”

Independent councillor Marc Donnelly, who sits in the outer west Chapel ward, said his residents were “plagued with a menace of ongoing fireworks from mid-October until mid-November”.

He added: “The Government needs to accept that across all parts of the region the same problems are occurring every year. The current powers are not working and if we really believe in public safety and a nation that loves its pets, as well as a society that wants to protect wildlife, we need to urgently address this issue.”