Council backs campaign to ban sky lanterns

"They look beautiful in the sky, but on the ground they are deadly"

WEST Berkshire Council has become the latest local authority to back a campaign to ban sky lanterns.

Councillors agreed that the “flying bonfires” looked “beautiful in the sky, but were deadly on the ground”.

At a meeting on Thursday, September 13, the council’s executive member for environment and countryside Jeanette Clifford (Con, Northcroft) urged her colleagues to support the motion to prohibit their use.

Mrs Clifford said: “A sky lantern. A simple paper bag over a rigid frame, perhaps of metal or bamboo and underneath a fuel source, which when lit lifts the lantern up to the heavens.

“They look beautiful. 200,000 of them were released in the UK last year. They look beautiful in the sky, but on the ground they are deadly.

“The paper becomes litter, the frame perhaps a snare for a wild bird or it is ingested by a farm animal that could suffer terrible injuries.

“And the flame may start a fire on a thatched roof or a field of crops and, most memorably in the West Midlands, 100,000 tonnes of plastic. That fire took 200 firefighters to put out.

“I would like to see sky lanterns expunged in West Berkshire, but that is not within our power.

“What is within our power is the motion before you tonight. This isn’t futile, this restricted motion calling for a ban on our land.

“Putting the weight of West Berkshire behind a campaign led by the RSPCA and backed by organisations such as Marine Conservation Society, the NFU and many other local authorities will make our voice heard.

“By and large we don’t like bans, but West Berkshire people love the countryside, respect property and cherish our wildlife and they expect us to do what we can to protect it.

“Lanterns are literally incendiary devices. We don’t need them in West Berkshire.”

The council’s opposition leader Lee Dillon (Lib Dem, Thatcham North) said: “On this side we are in full support.

He added: “Hopefully our residents will back it as well by not letting them off in their gardens.”

Councillor James Cole (Con, Kintbury) said: “I am not a ban it sort of person either, but this is different.

“It is a pity, because those things do look beautiful up in the sky, but the reality on the ground is quite different. The threat to animals, the threat to marine life.

“These things have been described as ‘flying bonfires’ and uncontrollable bonfires really do do damage.

“Once you stick fire in the sky, it becomes too difficult to control, especially when people set them off in the wind and watch the whirl away.

“Our climate is changing, the world is getting hotter. Maybe someone will make safe ones one day, one that biodegrades.

“But until then, I would encourage all landowners to ban sky lanterns on their land.”

Tim Metcalfe (Con, Purley on Thames) questioned whether the motion went far enough.

Mr Metcalfe pointed to an article he read in the farming press, where a cow had been killed after choking on string from a Red Nose Day balloon released by schoolchildren in London.

“It is amazing that we allow all sorts of litter to be cast into the sky,” he said.

“What is more important here is the school children from the school are actually allowed. What are we teaching our children?

“Sky lanterns should be banned universally. But I think we should also think seriously about all kinds of detritus that we throw up into the sky.”

Mrs Clifford thanked members for backing the motion and said that the council would write to parish and town councils, local landowners, MPs and the Government in due course.

In January, West Oxfordshire District Council voted to back a proposal to ban the release of sky lanterns, also known as Chinese lanterns.