THE absence of a firework display in Alton on or around Bonfire Night has come under scrutiny in recent weeks, with people asking why surrounding villages are able to stage events while the town is left out in the cold.

Run for many years by Alton Round Table, and based at the Bass (later Coors) sports ground in Anstey Road, the town’s bonfire and fireworks display pulled in crowds from a wide area.

Over the years the event became more sophisticated but, understandably, more risk averse, with a pyrotechnic display set to music but with more health and safety issues surrounding the lighting of fireworks, and sparklers replaced by glow sticks.

Nonetheless, the sports ground was an ideal venue, located close to the town centre, within walking distance for many, on a protected site so the bonfire could be built in advance, and with a turnstyle entrance which allowed organisers to charge for admission – necessary to cover the escalating cost of staging such an event.

But in more recent times, as Coors took the decision to sell the site for development, the Round Table was forced to find an alternative venue.

Alton Town Council allowed the use of the Diggers part of Anstey Park, but it would not permit the building of a bonfire on the site.

Being a public open space, while the area was fenced off in part and the perimeter patrolled by Alton Lions, it was not secure, which meant setting up on the day.

Nor was it possible to enforce paid entry, making it difficult to recoup the cost of the event which had always been run on the basis of raising enough money to fund the following year’s fireworks, with any surplus going to charity.

When the Round Table finally called it a day in 2012 due to lack of manpower and increasing difficulty in raising sufficient money via ticket sales to cover the cost of the event, especially in bad weather, it wasn’t for the want of trying to encourage others to come on board and help, or take it over.

But running an event of this size, for a population of pushing up toward 20,000, is a big ask.

While many of the surrounding villages have their own events, logistically they aren’t able to accommodate large numbers of people from the town.

The outcome is that many people are reverting to staging their own events in their back garden – a practice, due to health and safety issues, that the Government has been keen to move away from in favour of organised public events.

Peter Desmond-Thomas recently moved to the town from London and was deeply disappointed that Alton would not have its own fireworks display and has been lobbying Alton Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Alton Town Council to see if it could be resurrected.

The matter was discussed during last Wednesday’s meeting of the town council’s community and events committee, in response to a request posed by Mr Desmond-Thomas that it look at taking over the staging of a town fireworks display and bonfire which would not only contribute to taking pressure off families financially but ensure more safety than a private display can afford.

It would also, he suggested, contribute to “a sense of town esprit de corps” and would be good for the town centre hospitality industry, if centrally located.

While Mr Desmond-Thomas suggested such venues as The Butts and Flood Meadows, neither was considered suitable, plus the openness of the sites would result in an inability to charge for access, leaving Anstey Park as the only option, unless Alton schools could be persuaded to take a lead from some of the village schools, such as Four Marks and Binsted, where they stage an event for the surrounding residents as a way of raising money for the school.

After the meeting, town clerk Leah Coney wrote to Mr Desmond-Thomas stating that while members felt the idea of resurrecting a town event had merit, as historically there had been such an event in Alton, it was agreed there was “neither the scope in the budget nor spare capacity in officer resources at the current time to undertake what would be a considerable additional project”.

It was further felt that if a local group or organisation was willing to organise a fireworks event then the committee would be prepared to permit the use of town council-owned land although, given access restrictions on certain sites and proximity of others to main roads, the only suitable location was felt to be the Diggers area of Anstey Park.

Mrs Coney also drew attention to the possible involvement of the schools in staging smaller firework displays.

Mr Desmond-Thomas had suggested that rather then charge an entry fee, it might be possible to encourage a town centre business to sponsor such an event.

While agreeing that the need for a town fireworks display had not gone away, in an e-mail correspondence with Mr Desmond-Thomas, Alton Chamber of Commerce and Industry secretary Stephen Lewis pointed out that while problems like this would not be resolved quickly it was “important to keep the ideas flowing” and for Alton to keep lobbying “in a combined effort to get things done”.