The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) is urging local authorities, community groups and private individuals staging Bonfire Night displays not to release sky lanterns.
CLA South East represents thousands of farmers, landowners and rural businesses in Kent, Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and the Isle of Wight.
The organisation is also asking event organisers to consider banning lanterns from their venues completely, in order to prevent spectators from releasing them.
Regional Director Tim Bamford said:
“While Bonfire Night offers a chance for people to enjoy themselves at one of the many organised displays across the region, we would urge them to do so without releasing sky lanterns.
“Releasing a naked flame with absolutely no control over where it will land is a serious threat to rural businesses, livestock, wildlife and the environment.
“There is simply no responsible way to use them. They can kill animals, litter the countryside and start fires.”
The CLA has been campaigning for a total ban for a number of years, and will continue to do so for the sake of farming, wildlife, the environment and property owners everywhere. More than 100 local authorities have so far implemented a ban.
Mr Bamford added:
“Animals could be injured or killed if they become trapped and entangled in debris, or if they eat items, causing choking and damage to internal organs.
“Lanterns also pose a significant danger to aviation traffic such as planes and helicopters.
For more information about the CLA and its work, visit https://www.cla.org.uk/in-your-area/south-east/ and follow @CLASouthEast on Twitter.
Ground so wet even a small thermal nuclear device would surely not scorch the vegetation now
It should be banned. If I discard a lit bit of paper and it burnt down a house I would be charged with arson.
Surely too wet to be a risk now?
It’s not just the fire risk. It’s the wire frame that can injure animals and causes litter.
Do people still partake in this ridiculous idea? How about we just ban Fireworks altogether? It’s nothing but an archaic symbol of sectarian hatred and it terrorises all animals,not just the farmed variety!
Good advice. These things are dangerous.
Last year I found an expired one of these a few feet away from to the pile of branches I’d cut from coppicing the trees in the garden a few weeks before, stacked under cover and tinder dry ready for bonfire night. If it had landed on the stack, the fence could have gone up in flames, and thus spread to the house.