Community Councillors Save Fireworks Display in Swansea Valley by Intervening

A POPULAR fireworks display in the Swansea Valley has been cancelled but the evening shouldn’t be a damp squib after councillors intervened.
Clydach councillors Matthew Bailey, Gordon Walker and Brigitte Rowlands have teamed up with Friends of Coed Gwilym Park to put on the event at the park on Saturday, November 2, although there will be a £2 per person charge to cover costs.
It comes after Clydach Community Council, which normally organises the display, announced on October 1 that it was pulling the plug.
It said on Facebook: “After careful consideration of assessments of risk, cost and current council capacity to run a safe event in November, the community council are unable to host a fireworks display this year.”
The decision and the way it was communicated left many people frustrated, judging by reaction to the post, but the community council has expanded on its decision after being contacted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
It said it was very keen to continue organising popular events in Clydach but added the costs of doing so safely were significant.
It also said it has “discovered significant funding pressures” which it claimed related to decisions made by previous community councillors.
Cllr Bailey said the community council had organised the event for years.
“This started as a small display in the car park of the local nickel works and then moved to Clydach Cricket Club before completely outgrowing the event and needing to move to the larger Coed Gwilym Park,” he said.
“It has always been really successful and has become the event to go to.”
Cllr Bailey said he had sent emails to the community council asking about this year’s event but hadn’t had a reply, and if he had known it had concerns, he would have offered to help.
He said the £2 entry charge would go to the fireworks company and if this didn’t cover the cost – normally around £6,000, he said – he, Cllr Walker and Cllr Rowlands would make up the difference from their community budgets.
He said the trio would also reimburse Friends of Coed Gwilym Park any additional public liability cover.
He added: “While we understand that fireworks can be distressing to some veterans, animals and people who are averse to noise due to health issues, we believe having a single, organised, safe display drastically reduces the need for many families to have informal displays in their gardens.
“It also reduces the amount of fireworks going off in the weeks leading up to November 5 and the weeks after.
“Having a known date and time gives reassurance to pet owners etc to be with their pets for a 20-minute display.”
The community council said it hadn’t received an offer of support to run the display event with the three ward councillors to date, but “if funding and support is available we stand ready to work collaboratively with them to deliver the event for the people of Clydach”.
It also said the council chairman has attempted to contact Cllr Bailey on this matter, that it encouraged residents to come in for a chat or get involved with its activities, and that a family day, Remembrance Day service and winter festivities were taking place in November and December. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

By BBC LDRS ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​