Fed up with late-night fireworks? The government is consulting on new rules – here’s how to respond

The Office for Product Safety and Standards has launched a public consultation on fireworks and pyrotechnics regulation across the UK, and it’s a chance for Ruislip residents to make their views heard.

The consultation opened this week and runs through August and September, looking at whether to:

• Restrict the noisiest fireworks to professional users, with several options on the table for lowering the current 120 decibel limit for consumer fireworks
• Ban more high-risk products from general sale, adding to the existing list of prohibited fireworks
• Review the rules on lower-risk products, such as Christmas crackers and smoke bombs, including a proposal to scrap the minimum age for buying crackers

Anyone can respond –  you don’t need to be an expert. The government is keen to hear from ordinary residents alongside businesses, local authorities and emergency services, particularly on how fireworks noise and misuse affect daily life, sleep, pets and vulnerable neighbours.

Why it matters locally: many of the issues raised in the consultation — fireworks being set off late at night, in public places, or over an extended period rather than just around Bonfire Night — are exactly the kind of anti-social behaviour that residents in areas like ours have raised before. This is a direct opportunity to feed those concerns into national policy.

How to take part:

• Complete the survey online via the consultation page on GOV.UK
• Or email a completed response form to fireworksconsultation@businessandtrade.gov.uk
• Or post a written response to the Fireworks – Sectors Policy Team, Office for Product Safety and Standards, Department for Business and Trade, Old Admiralty Building, Admiralty Place, London SW1A 2DY

You can answer as many or as few of the questions as you like, and can note whether you’re responding as an individual or on behalf of an organisation.

Ruislip Residents’ Association encourages as many residents as possible to take part before the deadline in early October.

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