Dear Dr Hamer

Freedom of Information request

Thank you for your email dated 1^st January 2009 with regards to the staging of London's New Year's Eve fireworks display.

Our response to your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act is as follows:

1. The total contract value of the fireworks display on the Thames for New Year's Eve.

A budget of £1.7m was allocated to stage the 2008 event. The majority of the budget is for is for crowd management, stewarding and related infrastructure in order to ensure the safety of the audiences of 187,000 people in officially designated viewing areas and a further 500,000 people in central London.

The actual costs of the display is £356,000 with a further £150,000 on the associated lighting and projection effects.

2. How many tonnes of fireworks were set off.

We do not have figures in respect for the number of tonnes of fireworks used to create the display. The effect on the environment on the display (further detailed below) should take account of the quality of the fireworks in order to reduce harmful emissions, rather than the combined weight of materials used.

3. A breakdown of the source of funding for the display

The £1.7m total cost of the event was met from the following sources:

London Development Agency £1.414m

Greater London Authority £186k

LG Sponsorship £100k plus in-kind support to enhance projection effects at the event

4. The level of CO2 emitted from the fireworks

The chemistry of combustion of fireworks in general is not very well documented, but the combustion chemistry of blackpowder is well known. Therefore the following conclusions can be drawn from studies carried out by our own contractor and by the Disney Corporation - from sites, such as Theme parks where displays are fired all year round.

Gaseous products from fireworks combustion include Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Monoxide, Sulphur Dioxide, Nitrogen oxides, water vapour and nitrogen. In a typical firework display such as the London event where we have approximately 250Kg of blackpowder is fired over 10 minutes, the rates of production of these gasses is approximately.

Carbon Dioxide - 68 g/s

Carbon Monoxide - 29 g/s

Sulphur Dioxide - 2 g/s

Nitrogen oxides - 7 g/s

Nitrogen - 22 g/s

Given that these are formed in a large volume of air and are subject to immediate dilution by wind the potential human health or environmental effects are very low.

By way of comparison these figures (for a 10 minute display) equate roughly to

5000 person-kilometres of travel by bus

5000 person-kilometres of travel by plane

8000 person-kilometres of travel by car

26000 person-kilometres of travel by high speed train

So, for instance, if 200,000 people come to specifically see the display and traveled by car or bus at some point in their journey, traveling an average of 10km each, the atmospheric pollution caused by the display is approximately 1/300^th the pollution caused by people traveling to the display.

Overall therefore the actual environmental pollution is very small, although there is further work being done in this area.

If you have any further questions relating to this matter, please contact me, ensuring that you quote the reference at the top of this letter.

Yours sincerely

Patrick Loy

Manager, Events for London (Acting)

If you are unhappy with the way the GLA has handled your request, you may complain using the GLA's comments and complaints procedure, available at http://www.london.gov.uk/gla/comments/index.jsp.

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External Relations City Hall

The Queen's Walk

More London

London SE1 2AA

Switchboard: 020 7983 4000

Minicom: 020 7983 4458

Web: www.london.gov.uk

Direct telephone: 020 7983 4100 Fax: 020 7983 4057 Email: [Greater London Authority request email]

Dr K J Hamer

Our ref: MGL020109-1917

Date: 30^th January 2009