I CALL upon our BCP councillors to impose a directive banning disposable barbecues which are a constant daily blight in our parks and green space. Those that abuse such directives should be given on the spot fines.

The most terrible recent fire in the Wareham Forest, caused by the tinder-dry state of the environment, combined with what was believed to be the irresponsible discarding of a disposable barbecue, surely endorses the fact that something urgently must be done to redress this escalating problem.

Year after year as soon as a there is some fine weather, groups of people bring their disposable barbecues and place them within our parks and greens spaces with smoke billowing in all directions, giving no consideration to the local community in homes and hotels and the damage they create. It is high time that something proactive was done in order to protect our environmental green spaces and parks to rid ourselves of this constant worry which has far reaching consequences with the destruction of our horticultural and arboricultural heritage.

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The recent fires in Australia, caused by the tinder-dry state of the environment, are a stark warning of the danger to human life, plants, trees and wildlife through the careless starting of inappropriate fires in open spaces. One is only too aware of the environmental damage these disposable barbecues have with burning the grass where they have been placed. Not only do they cause destruction to the area but also are a risk of fire on a great scale, as was the case not that many years ago on the West Cliff Green where the whole of the cliff face was set alight with a large area of bushes and wild life destroyed and this was believed to have been started by a disposable barbecue.

Bournemouth in Bloom volunteers work alongside our BCP park teams to care for our local parks and green spaces. In caring for our local environment, it is heartbreaking to see the devastation and destruction caused by disposable barbecues and the time has now come for clear directives by law to be imposed that they are not to be tolerated.

CHRISTOPHER COLLEDGE

Chairman of Bournemouth in Bloom

Durley Gardens, Bournemouth