The official version of this document can be found via the PDF button.
The below content has been automatically generated from the original PDF and some formatting may have been lost, therefore it should not be relied upon to extract citations or propose amendments.
1240/5(6942)
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT BY DEPUTY R.J. RONDEL OF ST. HELIER
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 26th JUNE 2012
Question
Would the Minister outline the differences, if any, between the Environmental Risk Assessments for the aborted firing of 120,000 rockets by Mr. Terry McDonald in August 2007 and the recent firework display held for H.M. The Queen's Diamond Jubilee on 4th June 2012?
Answer
In this response I would respectfully direct the Deputy to the report; "Importation of Fireworks In 2007 For A Charity Event: Investigation (P.21/2011) – Combined Report By The Ministers For Home Affairs, Planning And Environment And Economic Development" which was presented to the States on 15th September 2011 by the Minister For Home Affairs.
This document will provide useful background information, including submitted risk assessments, and highlights the reasons that requests were made by the Department for information from Mr. McDonald.
Correspondence with the department in this case was precipitated by an approach to staff by Mr. McDonald, and the Department offered advice to ensure that, should the record breaking attempt go ahead, minimal environmental damage would result. The scale of the attempt was of concern to the department as it was proposed that approximately 7 tonnes of fireworks would be used.
The risk assessments and the work with Mr. McDonald catalysed the drafting of two reports from the Department, both of which are available on the States of Jersey website. These were entitled as follows.
- World Record Rocket Launch Attempt – a response from the Environment Division, States of Jersey.'
- "World Record Rocket Launch Attempt – An Assessment of Pollution to controlled waters and Toxicity"
It is not the mandate of the Department to authorise firework displays, but it acts in an advisory capacity and also regulates and enforces in the event of contravention of relevant island legislation . In the case of the jubilee display the Department was contacted by the ornithological section of the Societe Jersiaise who were concerned about disturbance to birds nesting on the rock outcrop at the castle.
A subsequent meeting was held with the Bailiff s' team, This was followed by a meeting on site at the castle including staff from Fire and Rescue, the Health and Safety Inspectorate, as well as Environment department staff.. The fireworks display operators were requested by the Bailiff to prepare a risk assessment which, I would respectfully suggest to the Deputy , should a copy be required a request is made of the Bailiff s' chambers.
Further, it is understood that the Societe were to undertake a pre and post display survey of the nesting sites but as this is not something that was requested by the Department, I would again respectfully advise that they should be approached directly for a copy of any subsequently drafted report.