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Firework legislation has been branded a “toothless tiger” by a councillor as West Lothian readies for Bonfire night. It comes after a second raid in a month in the county recovered 200kg of fireworks in East Calder, weeks after a seizure in Addiewell. Conservative Alison Adamson pointed to widespread online sales, and another member of the Public and Community Safety PDSP raised questions about the widely advertised sales of fireworks. For a second year no firework control zones have been set up in West Lothian for the week around Bonfire Night. Julie Whitelaw, lead officer for the committee told councillors that no communities had asked for them to be set up. Councillor Alison Adamson told the meeting the firework legislation was not addressing criminal behaviour around fireworks: “It’s a toothless tiger. “The best action would be to stop the supply in the first place. We need intelligence where people can report that they suspect that fireworks are being stored. “I’m going to also put out a plea that if people know of a neighbour who is regularly letting off fireworks to cause a nuisance to please report it to the police. Hopefully people will be able to attend the organised displays. John Sives, who represents community councils, pointed to the dozens of advertising bills attached to lampposts in West Calder and East Calder, advertising fireworks for sale, and asked where concerns about those could be raised. The meeting heard that Trading Standards officers would address any issues raised by the public on firework sales. They deal directly with retailers visiting them in the weeks running up to Bonfire Night. Councillor Maria MacAulay thanked the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service for their work ahead of the week and added: “I hope the fire brigade and all partners remain safe this season.” Chairing the meeting Councillor Craig Meek said: “ A a good lot of multi-agency work goes into the run up to the bonfire night and on the night itself.” Scottish Fire and Rescue, along with the local police and the council are happy with the range of preparations in place and have again worked in partnership to deliver safety messages to local primary and secondary schools. In a report to the Committee Station Commander Paul Harvey the SFRS local liaison officer said: “A national programme of education has been developed by SFRS to deliver key messages to our target groups of P6-P7 and S1-S2 Pupils. “If schools have specific requests for other year groups, these will be accommodated if the team has capacity. SFRS personnel and partner agencies will directly engage with young people within school and youth group settings. Where possible Police Scotland will deliver the bonfire and firework safety inputs with SFRS colleagues.” Build ups of rubbish or dangerous bonfires can be reported to the police or council and materials will be removed by council staff. Commander Harvey added: “The multi-agency plan has been developed using intelligence and learning from previous successful bonfire planning periods. Partners will continue to share intelligence and work together in support of the plan throughout the bonfire period.” Don't miss the latest news from the West Lothian Courier. Sign up to our free newsletter here .
