By John Baron
A Calverley & Farsley councillor has raised concerns about the anti-social use of fireworks, which are causing widespread concern among residents late at night.
Councillor Andrew Carter (Cons, Calverley & Farsley) has called for an end to importing cheap fireworks from China – and is lobbying for more action from police.
He said the police’s reputation was “not being done any good by a lack of action”.
In a video posted on his Facebook page, Cllr Carter said: “I want to talk about the fireworks that are being let off with increasing regularity, coming from the Pudsey end of the ward, up towards Bradford, indeed into Bradford.
“Surely the way to stop access to these cheap, very dangerous fireworks is to ban the import from China – because that’s where most of them come from.
“The police seem unable to stop these occurrences, often late at night, and accompanied by cars racing around at dangerous speeds.
“It really is time for action. The police’s reputation is not being done any good by a lack of action.
“I don’t blame the police in our local police stations – it’s time the senior officers look to actually carry out their duties in what I regard to be an effective way.”
Officers from the Calverley and Farsley neighbourhood policing team last week said they were tackling the anti-social use of fireworks in the area, working alongside partner agencies to take action against repeat offenders.
Sponsored content
I totally agree with Cllr Carter
Old bloke has a problem with original inventors of fireworks.
Prehaps we could reopen the Newlay munitions factory to make local fireworks?
Totally agree. I do not understand where they are getting these industrial sounding fire works from. Also, there does seem to be a lot of very silly people racing very dangerously
Night after night fireworks are diidturbinv our sleep as they begin long after the legal deadline of 11pm. No care for others with pets and babies. If no action is taken against them it will continue and get worse . What is happening to our lovely Pudsey area???
It’s a problem all over Leeds. Ridiculous and dangerous.
This issue is not improving and little seems to be done. I raised this 2 years ago with MP Stuart Andrews and if anything the situation is deteriorating not improving.
Below is MP Stuart Andrews response when I raised this in August 2023
-From: Stuart Andrew MP
Sent: 25 August 2023 16:58
To:
Subject: Re: Bluetree Contact Form –
Dear Darren,
Thank you for your e-mail and I am sorry to hear of the excessive use of fireworks near where you live.
The Government takes the issues associated with the sale and use of fireworks seriously. There is a comprehensive regulatory framework already in place for fireworks that controls the sale, availability and use of fireworks, as well as setting a curfew and noise limit. Enforcement powers exist for local authorities to take action when fireworks are unsafe, sold illegally, or misused.
Local authorities and the police have powers to tackle the misuse of fireworks, where it arises. This includes a range of flexible tools and powers available to local agencies to tackle anti-social behaviour.
While it is difficult to tackle this issue without knowing the location, I have contacted the Leeds City Council Anti-Social Behaviour team, and the licensing team to try and address this directly, It may be that others have reported similar issues and there is more information to trace the source of the issue. I have also spoken to West Yorkshire Police and made them aware.
Please report ongoing issues to the anti-social Behaviour team here: https://www.leeds.gov.uk/antisocial-behaviour-and-crime/report-antisocial-behaviour or call 0113 222 4402.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me and I will certainly ensure your concerns are investigated.
With kind regards
Stuart
The Rt. Hon. Stuart Andrew MP
Member of Parliament for Pudsey, Horsforth and Aireborough
The real difficulty is when you try and report these issues as they ‘need to know specifically where the fireworks are being set off’ which is the difficult issue in Pudsey as you can just see that the general direction is across towards Bradford.
It is deeply disappointing that despite the assurances given and the apparent existence of enforcement powers, the situation continues to deteriorate. Residents feel increasingly ignored and let down by the lack of visible action from those agencies tasked with upholding the law.
Someone in authority needs to treat this issue with the seriousness it deserves and to take steps to ensure that these existing regulations are actively enforced, rather than merely acknowledged.