Lewisham Council have called off the Blackheath fireworks display for a fifth year in a row.
With council budgets overstretched, the local authority have claimed that they need to prioritise where they spend money.
A spokesperson from Lewisham Council said: “We have to prioritise funding and need to focus our limited financial resources on maintaining essential local services and supporting our most vulnerable residents, including adult social care and children’s services.”
Lewisham Council have been one of the hardest hit boroughs in terms of local council spending cuts since 2010 and are operating on a budget that’s £157 million-a-year short of its pre-2010 levels, according to figures from Lewisham Council’s website.
Whilst the annual fireworks display has been cancelled every year since 2019, the survival of the event up until that point relied partially on local community fundraising.
In the absence of a secure sponsor, its doubtful whether there will ever be a future Blackheath fireworks display.
One resident, Stuart Munroe, sarcastically said: “They can’t cancel something that wasn’t going to happen.”
It seems that, even in the wake of these said funding cuts, the popular consensus in Lewisham is that the council are cutting back on the wrong things so as to not make way for the display.
Lewisham Resident, John Smith, said: “The amount of money they are making from the LTN [low traffic neighbourhood fines should cover it [the fireworks event].”
Pensioner, Alan Greenslade, who’s lived in the area for much of his life with fond memories of the display, was unimpressed at the council’s decision to cancel the event again.
He said: “If we had a vote, rather than a ceremonial consultation that no one pays heed to, then I wonder what local people and businesses would ask for?
“I’m sure the answer would be the return of the display and not all of these other idealistic hare-brained pet projects.”
Whilst there are a handful of residents, mainly pet owners and those with environmental concerns, who are relieved by the news, other residents are keen to dispel these fears.
Lewisham local, Janice Ferris, said: “Blackheath firework display originally started for safety: to encourage people to go to a professional display instead of setting off their own fireworks in their back gardens.”
Lewisham residents disappointed to have missed out on another year of fireworks can visit the Beckenham Charity fireworks in the neighbouring borough of Bromley.
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