Back with a bang

By Kelly Yates
CASEY council will immediately review its ban on fireworks at all events in the City of Casey.
River Gum Ward councillor Wayne Smith raised the issue as a notice of motion at Tuesday night’s council meeting.
As reported in the News last week, Cr Smith said many community groups were up in arms about the ban on fireworks displays in the municipality.
“Each applicant should be considered on their own merits and safety procedures,” he said.
The issue first came to Cr Smith’s attention after letters from the City of Casey were sent out to community groups that had applied for a fireworks display permit this year.
In a letter to the Tooradin Foreshore Committee of Management, Casey’s former arts and leisure manager Robyn Bowen said that in light of the threat to Casey residential properties and open spaces during the bushfire season, the council was declining all proposals to discharge fireworks.
She said in the letter that all fireworks applications received by the City of Casey during the Fire Danger Period would not be approved. Cr Smith is proposing that the CFA, at both a regional and local level, be consulted regarding each application or event.
He said that in the cases where permits were unlikely to be granted, the council officers should convene a meeting between the applicant or event organisers, the CFA, and ward and other interested councillors to discuss possible alternatives and solutions.
“All recipients of the recent letters about the blanket ban should also be informed about the council’s decision,” Cr Smithsaid.