Councillors face a dilemma when the environment scrutiny committee meets later this week to consider the vexed question of fireworks. Should they press the Government to formally restrict sales to a certain time of the year in place of the present voluntary code of conduct, or should they accept that fireworks are now a year-round phenomenon and seek a compromise way forward?

There are several indisputable facts they will no doubt bear in mind. Modern fireworks are very loud and are set off all year round and at all hours, causing a great deal of distress to many people - as correspondence in the T&A Letters page regularly demonstrates. There is no doubt that a total ban on them other than around Plot Night would meet with widespread approval.

However, they are also now an accepted part of many celebrations from weddings and New Year parties to the Mela, and can give a lot of pleasure, particularly when used in organised displays. The problem is that fireworks are not limited to displays of that sort. Anyone can buy them, and set them off where and when they like - a freedom which is too frequently abused.

Rather than a total ban on sales other than around November 5, it would perhaps be better for the Council to press for year-round restrictions on the use of fireworks, limiting the hours during which they can be set off, curbing the decibel level, and insisting that they should be used only in displays organised and controlled by accredited fireworks handlers.