Utrecht’s executive board wants to bring in a complete ban on the use of fireworks by consumers and will publish draft bylaws to make this a reality after the summer, local broadcaster RTV Utrecht said on Thursday.

‘We will work together with people from Utrecht who see fireworks as part of the New Year traditions to come up with alternative celebrations at a neighbourhood level,’ the board says in a letter to councillors.

Rotterdam and Amsterdam have already agreed to stop the sale of consumer fireworks and last year the traditional New Year greeting was banned nationwide because of the coronavirus restrictions – although the ban was widely flouted.

The board says that research shows half of Utrecht’s residents now support a ban, and that the number of opponents has slumped from 61% to 40% in five years.

City councillors still have to vote on the proposal.