Agenda item

To receive petitions and public questions in accordance with Procedure Rule 20.

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Public Question from Karen Chapman:

“As an authority with responsibilities towards air quality, noise levels and waste collection is it time to consider holding more modern forms of celebration than the default to large, noisy, polluting firework displays of Chinese made fireworks?

The celebrations of the Olympics has shown that there is a huge variety of inspirational ways of celebrating evens with light shows, drone based displays and music.

Is it time to show that this authority has moved with the times and stopped spending our hard-earned money on this waste of natural resources?”

Councillor Lintern responded to the question as set out below.

Thank you for your message and for sharing your concerns on behalf of the West Lynn Action Group.

We appreciate your perspective on firework displays and the broader issues of environmental impact, noise, and the evolving expectations around public celebrations. As an authority, we continually strive to balance tradition, public enjoyment, and sustainability.

Our events are planned and budgeted many months in advance, and this year’s firework display has already been scheduled. These displays remain extremely popular, regularly attracting over 20,000 residents and visitors, many of whom see them as a cherished tradition within our community events calendar. Importantly, professionally organised displays are significantly safer than private, at-home fireworks and are offered free of charge—unlike many areas where admission fees apply—making them accessible to families of all income levels. The event also brings economic benefits to the town, as many attendees choose to spend the day locally, dining or shopping in the area.

That said, we have considered more modern and sustainable alternatives, including drone-based light shows. However, at present, the cost of delivering a drone display that offers a similar level of visual impact is significantly higher than that of a traditional fireworks show - which we currently provide at a cost of less than £1 per head. We will continue to monitor developments in this area and remain open to incorporating such options as they become more accessible and cost-effective.

I also note your comments about West Lynn, and I understand the importance of ensuring all parts of the borough feel represented and included. As someone who also lives outside of King’s Lynn, I share your view on the importance of inclusive community engagement. Should the West Lynn Action Group wish to organise a local event, we would be pleased to discuss potential opportunities for support and collaboration.

Public Question from Julie Irving:

“To be a resilient community we need to be informed engaged and proactive.  The Borough Council is in a leadership position in the community and could, within the limitations of its powers, nurture that resilient community.

For example, food insecurity is a very predictable outcome of climate breakdown, as crops fail in conditions of drought, extreme heat and flooding, causing food shortages, price increase and severe food poverty, to speak of the very least of the problems.  A proactive approach could include collective planning with residents, suppliers and distributors of food, encouraging residents to grow their own food, increasing allotments and community gardens.

As there is not a committee or planning body set up specifically to face and plan for the emergency’s consequent upon climate change and ecological breakdown, should one be puy in place?

A summary of Councillor Beales response to the question is set out below.

Planning and preparing for the impacts of climate change and the consequences such as flooding, drought and severe weather is an important role which we take seriously.  Our planning work for all emergencies is done collaboratively with other agencies in the multi-agency Norfolk Resilience Forum (NRF)  where we assess ongoing risk and how we prepare to respond and recover from them.

The NRF members include Police, Fire, Ambulance, Coastguard, Norfolk County Council, all Norfolk District Council, Environment Agency, APHA, HSE, Met Office, Health organisations, transport companies, utility suppliers and voluntary groups. A full list can be found here https://www.norfolkprepared.gov.uk/article/64190/Our-partners.

The group assesses many risks including the potential for climate change to change the likelihood and impact and we publish  a community risk register here  https://www.norfolkprepared.gov.uk/article/63531/Norfolk-Community-Risk-Register

We work with communities with specific concerns to develop their own emergency plans to supplement the plans that we write to assist with local response to incidents.

We would suggest residents visit the Norfolk Prepared website which lists how local residents can prepare their own household for emergencies:  https://www.norfolkprepared.gov.uk/article/63527/Prepare-your-household-for-emergencies

By way of supplementary Julie Irving raised concern that if one organisation wasn’t co-ordinating responses, then things could fall through the cracks.  She also mentioned the need to increase land available for people to grow their own food.

Councillor Beales responded that the Borough Council played a full role in the Norfolk Resilience Forum.