Town Council Report, Wednesday 2nd July
The Town Council discussed an issue which is bound to create a lot of debate and distress in the community. Due to concerns after last year’s Fireworks Display, the County Durham Safety Advisory Group has been asked for advice on staging the event for 2013. There is a strong possibility that the Council may have to close down its November Fireworks Display on health and safety grounds.
You can read the balanced, interim report of the Town Clerk online at http://bit.ly/GATCFireworks
The report suggests there are some problems that can be solved just by money; actually, even in these straitened times, money is not the issue. The problem is numbers, and that is a problem which does not go away so easily.
The public fireworks displays in Darlington, Bishop Auckland and Aykley Heads have recently been stopped, and people who used to go there are now coming to the GATC display. Last year the Council got thank you letters from all over the county; in some ways it was the most successful display ever, but the fear is that the site just cannot cope with the numbers.
There are two main issues.
One is parking. Last year it was crazy around the station, and the Council heard stories of strangers who parked so far into the Elmfield estate that they then couldn’t find their car when it was time to go home. Together with the huge crowds walking up from town, this creates a traffic hazard, and the fear that someone will get run over. On this one, it is arguable that it is not the Council’s responsibility, but that won’t help much if a child is reversed over and killed. The police have no ideas as to what could be done – there is simply not the parking space available.
The second is site evacuation. If there was an emergency – say on the industrial estate – how could such huge numbers be evacuated safely across the railway line? In the dark? In a panic situation? The SAG team had no real answers to this.
The answer is to restrict numbers, but this simply creates the spectre of lots of people trying to watch from the roads and places nearby, which would be even more dangerous.
The other side of the argument, of course, is that the event – which was originally started to discourage people from holding bonfires and fireworks in their back garden – actually saves lives. To cancel the display raises the alternative spectre of house fires and burned children.
Also, this sort of event always has to run with some level of risk, but the issue is whether it is right to continue with it given the level of risk it seems we would have to carry. The danger is that it continues without incident for a number of years, and then one year a carousel catches fire and a dozen people are trampled to death. Would people say that the Council was correct to have continued given that level of danger?
For the moment, the Council will wait upon the final report of the County’s Safety Advisory Group, and will also seek advice from its insurers, before holding a Special Meeting to make a decision.
This is an issue which we cannot – as a community as well as a Council – simply ignore. Councillors would welcome suggestions and comments from readers of the Newton News.
