Rotterdam city council has done a U-turn and agreed to put money into the annual fireworks show on the Erasmus Bridge after all.

Councillors decided on Thursday evening to invest in the event, after saying earlier that funding would end because of the need to make spending cuts.

Last Friday the organisers said the show could not go ahead because a crowdfunding campaign organised by the local VVD had raised only €28,000. The three displays cost around €1.3 million.

However, during Thursday’s debate on the council’s 2026 spending plans, VVD councillor Dieke van Groningen said the crowdfunding campaign had now raised €100,000. He then submitted a motion calling on the council executive to find the rest of the money from “various council budgets”.

The council voted unanimously in favour of the motion, with the exception of the pro-animal PvdD.

Jasper Scholte from the organising committee told NOS they had been shocked that the display would not go ahead given the port city has already banned consumers from setting off all but the weakest fireworks.

“This is the best option for the city and everyone gathers along the river bank to watch,” he said. “It is also a good way to focus attention on Rotterdam in the winter months.”

This is the last New Year that consumers will be able to buy most types of fireworks legally in the Netherlands, and sellers have already reported record sales.

However, a survey of the Netherlands’ local councils by news website Nu.nl found that officials in 100 of them are worried about how this year’s festivities will pass off. Consumer fireworks have already been banned in 20 local areas, including Amsterdam, but the bans are largely ignored.

The decision to ban consumer fireworks altogether follows a long-running campaign by doctors, emergency service workers and others to end the traditional New Year fireworks frenzy, which regularly causes hundreds of injuries and millions of euros in damage to private property.