LAST week Monmouthshire became the third council in Gwent and the 13th in Wales to clamp down on sky lanterns.

The council follows Blaenau Gwent and Caerphilly Council, as well as others across Wales, to introduce the ban on lanterns and mass balloon releases on council-owned or managed land.

For many people, lantern and balloon releases are a beautiful and respectful way to pay tribute to lost loved ones.

Those who have been bereaved often find comfort in coming together, often surrounded by countryside, to remember those who have died. It is often symbolic too, with the release aspect suggesting a person coming to terms with grief.

But there is an ever-growing lobby of people calling for an end to these releases.

“When sky lanterns and balloons are released, they don’t just disappear. They float back down to earth where they are the same as any other litter.”

These are the words of the Marine Conservation Society, just one of the many organisations calling for a ban.

And although opponents to balloon and lantern releases have a common and shared interest, they hail from a whole host of many different organisations – mainly with the environment at their heart.

RSPCA Cymru has long been extremely vocal and have fully welcomed the news Monmouthshire County Council agreed to the ban.

The organisation said the lanterns, also known as Chinese lanterns, can harm wildlife, livestock and other animals by causing injuries that lead to suffering and a “slow painful death”.

The main way the animals die is when they eat the balloons, which have fallen from the sky, and choke.

Martin Fidler, political campaign manager for RSPCA Cymru last week said they were “delighted” that Monmouthshire took the decision to introduce a ban – and it “delivers an important message”.

Monmouthshire Council is also seeking a voluntary ban of the release of the lanterns and mass balloons from private venues, for example hotels.

Mr Fidler added: “Sky lanterns may look pretty - but they’re also pretty dangerous. Sadly, many people forget that, if they release a lantern or balloon, they have no control over where it lands, or the damage it can do.

“The fact that the majority of councils have joined our calls sends out a big signal about just how dangerous these things are.”

Perhaps the reason a large amount of councils have introduced a ban is thanks to the Welsh Government, who in October 2013 wrote to the local authorities encouraging them to introduce a voluntary ban.

In Monmouthshire, Cllr Phil Murphy, cabinet member with responsibility for estates, highlighted the benefits of the ban, which agree with the RSPCA’s principles.

He said: “The council has taken action following independent research establishing that the release of sky lanterns and helium balloons poses a significant risk to crops, buildings and moorland as well as being a potential source of harm to livestock and creating litter.

“I urge other establishments and organisations in the county to follow the council’s lead.”

Caerphilly Council was the first Gwent council to introduce the ban on lanterns on council-owned land, including public parks, in November 2013.

The decision was taken after several small incidents in Deri, Hengoed and Crumlin including when a lantern landed on top a village hall as well as grass fires.

Then less than a year later, in September 2014, Blaenau Gwent Council’s Executive Committee voted to approve a ban on the release of sky lanterns and helium balloons from all council land and premises.

Elsewhere in Gwent, Newport City Council and Torfaen County Borough Council are yet to introduce a ban, although in Torfaen it is an issue the council said they are aware of.

A spokesperson for Torfaen Council last week said they are “currently reviewing the situation” but are hoping to know more in the coming weeks.

The Gwent Wildlife Trust is another organisation who gave a positive response when the idea of a ban was first mooted.

Chief executive of the trust, Ian Rappel, said: “It always seems like a bit of a party pooper but the impact [of lanterns and balloons] is quite serious. So if Monmouthshire is supporting a more sensible approach it is a good thing.”

And it is exactly this idea of being a “party pooper” which so other people might feel about the opponents.

Lantern and balloon releases have always been popular in Gwent; in January this year the whole of Rogerstone Primary School released 600 coloured helium balloons as part of a Geography project.

And the family of three-year-old Shae Button, from Cwmbran, who died in April last year, sold balloons with personal messages which they then released.

But there are dangers. In October 2013 the Argus reported how a stray Chinese lantern set a Newport woman’s gazebo on fire.

29-year-old mother of two, Jodie Morgan, had a hole burned through her gazebo on Graig Park Circle in Malpas.

She was upstairs playing with her daughter when neighbours banged on her door. The neighbours had spotted the flames and put the fire out using the garden hose.

Speaking at the time, Ms Morgan said: “I’ve set off lanterns in the past to celebrate loved ones but you don’t think of the consequences until you’re on the receiving end of one.”

She said it could have been a lot worse if her children had been sat under the gazebo.

Just three months before that, the Smethwick recycling plant in Birmingham saw 100,000 tonnes of plastic recycling material set on fire because of a Chinese lantern.

South Wales Fire and Rescue Service said sky lanterns are a fire risk to property, crops, vehicles and livestock and can harm to environment..

Last week Vaughan Jenkins, group manager for Operations, said: “Once a sky lantern is lit and airborne it poses a real threat due to the fact that this is a naked flame and there is no control over where it will float and ultimately land potentially causing a fire.

“There have been instances where lanterns have been mistaken for marine distress flares and people have also been injured by falling debris. They also pose a risk to livestock due to the candles or wire construction being ingested when they have landed in fields.”

It is a campaign which has begun slowly but is growing across the UK and the world after entire countries including Germany, Spain and Brazil.

For many, the proposed alternatives such as lighting a stationary candle, static lanterns or planting a tree in memory do not have the same poignancy about them.

But the opponents continue to push for more bans in place, and many in Wales will not be happy until all 22 councils sign up to the ban.