Renewed calls for people to "think twice" before releasing sky lanterns

Rural and welfare organisations have been calling on councils to ban the paper lanterns for a number of years.

The lanterns are powered by a naked flame and drop indiscriminately into fields, hedges and buildings. There have been reports of wildlife and livestock being injured and killed by them and crops being damaged.

The decision to ban the release of sky lanterns is taken at local authority level with Richmondshire becoming the latest district council to take action.

In a unanimous decision last week, the proposal put forward by Reeth councillor Richard Good was approved. Lanterns will be banned on almost 100 sites across the largely rural area.

At the meeting, councillor and Lower Wensleydale farmer Richard Ormston condemned those releasing sky lanterns as “irresponsible”. Describing them as “nothing less than fire-bombs”, he said they were a “very serious hazard” to grazing livestock and silage.

“I’ve had several burnt-out patches in my arable crops near harvest and the worst case scenario I’m looking at a £30,000 or £40,000 loss. When cattle eat them it’s a pretty horrendous ghastly death. It punctures their stomachs and they just rot to death and there’s nothing you can do to cure them. It is considerably more than a nuisance.”

Baroness Anne McIntosh, who as an MP represented the Vale of York, welcomed Richmondshire’s decision but said a ban on all council land would be a sensible way forward.

“The dangers posed by sky lanterns to livestock is immense as well as the potential to cause burns to people. It would seem best to ban them as has been the case in Wales on all council land since 2018,” she said.

Baroness McIntosh said she could “see no alternative” to a ban in rural areas as the lanterns cannot be safely disposed off after landing.

“In urban and rural areas alike, they are a potential hazard to aircraft with possible damage to engines. They can also cause serious burns to people. I think it is best dealt with at local council level and I welcome the recent decision by Richmondshire Council to ban them. I hope other councils follow their example.”

East Yorkshire MP Sir Greg Knight earlier this year calling in Parliament for a national ban on the lanterns.

In March last year, Ruth George, then Labour MP for High Peak, introduced a Ten Minute Rule Bill in the House of Commons calling for the banning of sky lanterns. The Bill passed its first reading but failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session which meant it went no further.

A spokesman for Defra said the Government recognised the concerns that sky lanterns and balloons can pose a threat to the environment and wildlife but felt the measures already in place were “effective and proportionate”.

“Sky lanterns can pose a danger to our precious environment and wildlife. That’s why local authorities have powers to restrict their use on council or public land and many have already put such measures in place,” the spokesman said. “We also encourage people to consider the risks before releasing lanterns.”

The spokesman said an independent study was commissioned in 2013 into the impacts of sky lanterns and helium balloons on the health and welfare of livestock which concluded the impacts were “relatively minor”.

“Any action the Government takes must be proportionate to the level of risk and we have concluded that an outright ban would be disproportionate in the circumstances. We consider the current regime, supported by guidance on the safe manufacture and use of sky lanterns, is effective and proportionate.”

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