Peredur Owen Griffiths, who represents Plaid Cymru, is one of four regional Senedd Members serving the South Wales East region.

Halloween and Bonfire Night are some of the most exciting nights for many children and teenagers. I’m not so old that I have forgotten the thrill of experiencing as a child the traditions of these events that fall within a week of each other.

Unfortunately, this time of the year has also become an excuse for a small minority to cause trouble and a menace to neighbours and their communities. I do not want to come across as a killjoy but many households – particularly those with animals – dread this time of the year. I hope that the vast majority of people celebrating these events locally will have consideration for others. 

Just how big and challenging these events can be for emergency services was brought home to me during a recent meeting with a police officer who told me that it is the busiest time of the year for the force in terms of dealing with antisocial behaviour.

Between the large, unsupervised bonfires and fireworks being let off, Caerphilly was said by the same officer as looking “like a warzone” last year. It is no wonder therefore that police prepare for this time of the year months in advance to coordinate their response across the various divisions, ensure community leaders are informed of their plans and that the public are kept as safe as possible.

They also remind shopkeepers of their responsibilities when it comes to things like selling eggs to gangs of kids and age restrictions on fireworks. There is also a considerable impact on the fire service who are the ones that need to deal with the consequences of bonfires when they get out of control. This pulls away valuable resources from the service that could impact on their response time to a house fire or car accident.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been looking into the legislation around fireworks that applies to Wales. Unfortunately, we do not have the specific powers to regulate the use of fireworks or reduce the decibel level of fireworks as we are subject to UK law on this.

The noise of fireworks was brought to the attention of the lawmakers two years ago as part of the work of the House of Commons petitions committee. The committee’s recommendation to review the decibel limit with a view to lowering it was unfortunately rejected by the Tory Government.

I am pleased to see the availability of ‘silent’ fireworks in some supermarkets over the last few weeks. In the absence of any proactive response from the Tories in Westminster, I am hoping that more and more people will choose this option this year and in the coming years. 

Another thing to consider is that fireworks emit pollutants which may affect the respiratory systems of healthy people, let alone those already suffering from respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Given the legacy of heavy industry in the valleys in the south of Wales, this is something that could be more of an issue for our communities.

I hope to be raising these issues in the Senedd ahead of Bonfire night next month. In the meantime, I hope everyone has an incident-free Halloween and Bonfire Night this year. Stay safe everyone.