Tipton fireworks show scrapped as council focuses on two big events
A bonfire and fireworks display in Tipton has been axed after council bosses admitted the event had failed to live up to expectations.
The display at Jubilee Park will not be returning next month as Sandwell Council leader Steve Eling said the authority had decided to focus on the two main displays in West Bromwich and Smethwick.
The fireworks show was moved to Jubilee Park last year as a safety precaution after a stray rocket flew into the crowd at Wednesbury's Brunswick Park.
But chiefs have now had a re-think and decided to cut the number of Bonfire Night events in the borough to two.
Thousands of people are expected to descend on Victoria Park, Smethwick, on November 4, for a fireworks show and on November 5 to Dartmouth Park, West Bromwich, for a bonfire and fireworks show.
Councillor Eling said: "We have decided to concentrate on the two main events in West Bromwich and Smethwick.
"Jubilee Park didn't work as well as we would have expected and that was shifted from Brunswick Park because it ended up not being suitable.
"The view was that it was better for everybody with two big events that can cater for a lot of people.
"Everybody will still have access to two really good bonfire and fireworks events in a way that are practical to deliver.
"There's still a free event and we are putting something on that hardly anywhere else in the country puts on. People are happy we are keeping these events going. In the current circumstances, these are the sort of things that disappear."
Councillor Eling also said having just the two main events would be easier to manage after the accident which marred the Wednesbury show in November 2014.
One man was left with a perforated eardrum after being struck by a firework while a 23-year-old man and a seven-year-old girl were also hurt.
A report into the incident found the fireworks display had gone ahead despite safety warnings from pyro-technicians.
The event was subsequently axed from Brunswick Park and moved to Jubilee Park, the first time since 2007 a fireworks display had been held at the Tipton park.
Councillor Richard Marshall, cabinet member for leisure said: "We will continue to have an event in the north and the south of the borough."
