Smoking bans imposed on playgrounds and parks
LONDON MAYOR’S HEALTH ADVISORS WANT BORIS TO BAN SMOKING AND IMPOSE A MINIMUM PRICE ON BOOZE
15 Oct 2014
by DAVID ATHERTON
London Mayor Boris Johnson’s Health Committee, “Better Health for London”, wants to ban smoking in 20,000 acres of London parks, along with Parliament Square and Trafalgar Square.
Surgeon Baron Darzi of Denham, the former Health Minister who heads up Mr Johnson’s Health Commission, has recommended not only the first outside smoking ban, but also announced a number of other measures in an attempt to reduce obesity. These include moves to surpress alcohol consumption and increase the exercise uptake amongst Londoners, in order to “make London a healthier, slimmer, fitter, city.”
Obesity will be tackled by banning fast food outlets 400 meters from schools and introducing a minimum price on alcohol at 50p a unit.
Car drivers won’t escape censure as “4,200 Londoners die each year as a direct result of air pollution – 7 per cent of all deaths that occur in the capital.”
Dame Sally Davies, Britain’s Chief Medical Officer, is in favour, commenting that smoke free parks will stop “role modelling in front of children.”
Ex-New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, adds this is a “major achievement” and that he is “looking forward to visiting London’s smoke free parks and squares.”
Many people will no doubt see this as a catalyst for other local government bodies around the United Kingdom to adopt similar policies too. Darzi obliges by writing: “Local councils would pass similar byelaws for their parks and open spaces… and London should be a leader, not an exception.”
They conclude, “London faces a public health emergency.”
I spoke to Chris Snowdon who is Director of Lifestyle Economics for the Institute of Economic Affairs. He was less keen on the idea: “This is totally insane. Boris put the smoking ban in Room 101 and now he wants it over 20,000 acres of open ground?
“This is a collection of loony nanny state policies that governments around the world have rejected. It’s astonishing and depressing that Boris Johnson, who once styled himself as a libertarian, is prepared to be associated with it.”
It does seem counterintuitive that while smokers were discretely tucked away out of sight in specific rooms or behind frosted glass or curtains in pubs before the smoking ban, they are now more on public display. In addition, it is unclear whether the ban will include electronic cigarettes.
Johnson will no doubt be criticised for the initiative by his staff. He said, reflecting on New York’s smoking ban in June 2012: “[It] is disappointing for a libertarian anarcho-Tory like me.” He also appeared on BBC’s Room 101, hosted by Paul Merton arguing for an amendment to the smoking ban.
Former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s smoking bans inside and outside have also been viewed by many to be a failure. Not only has there been an increase in smoking in New York to a million people, but the smoking ban is poorly enforced with only 440 tickets issued in over 3 years.
Audrey Silk of Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment (CLASH) was quoted as saying, “It’s just so toothless that it will fade into oblivion,” adding a warning that Londoners may heed: “bad laws deserve to be disobeyed.”
Experience tells us that the three main political parties will broadly agree with the measures, while Nigel Farage’s UKIP will probably dissent. Whatever the outcome, with drinkers, the obese, and car drivers in the nanny state’s crosshairs, smokers will not be walking alone.
Smoking bans imposed on playgrounds and parks
By Maxine Frith, Social Affairs Correspondent
08 August 2005
Town councils are imposing smoking bans on open-air spaces such as municipal playgrounds and football pitches, pre-empting the Government’s long-awaited proposals on a national smoking ban.
Local authorities including Middlesbrough are taking matters into their own hands, with the Teeside council announcing it intends to outlaw smoking at bus stops, children’s play areas, public parks and football pitches. Derwentside council in Co Durham has also banned smoking in municipal parks and playgrounds.
Local bans are not legally enforceable, but the Middlesbrough and Derwentside authorities hope prominent “No smoking” signs and a publicity campaign will encourage people to abide by the rules, and build public support.
A spokesman for the campaign group Smoke Free North East said: “It is fantastic. What we are all trying to do is set an example and demonstrate smoking is not the social norm.”
Liverpool could be the first city in England to have a fully enforced ” smoke-free” law. A campaign group of local businesses, the regional NHS and the council is backing the Liverpool SmokeFree Bill that had its second reading in the House of Lords last month. The Bill would ban smoking in all offices, pubs, clubs, bars and restaurants and all “enclosed public areas”. It still has to progress through a Lords committee then the Commons, but campaigners hope it could become law by next summer. The Liverpool Bill goes further than the position the Government has adopted
Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, has set out proposals that would ban smoking in workplaces and enclosed public spaces by 2007, with an extension to restaurants and pubs that serve food by 2008. Smokers caught breaking the rules would be fined ?50, with ?200 punishments for companies and organisations that fail to enforce the ban. But pubs that do not serve food – about 9,000 in England – would be exempt, and the issue of what exactly constitutes a “public space” is the subject of a consultation period.
Gideon Ben-Tovim, co-chair of the SmokeFree Liverpool campaign group, said: ” There is a strongly held view that the Government’s proposals don’t go far enough and will only worsen health inequalities in the most deprived areas. That is why we think it is so important to press ahead with our own Bill.”
Scotland is to introduce a country-wide ban from 2006, and legislation in Ireland has already been successfully implemented.
A spokesman for the pro-smoking lobby group Forest said: “It really does attack people’s civil liberties.”
http://news.independent.co.uk/
