Hull City Council has banned smoking in all of the city’s 91 public playgrounds as part of a drive to create a smoke-free generation.
Signs designed by local primary school pupils have been erected outside every play area in the city’s parks, asking visitors not to light up.
It is hoped the move will help to ‘de-normalise’ smoking – reducing the likelihood of children taking up the habit by ensuring they don’t see it as a normal part of everyday life. The ban will also protect children and other adults from breathing in second-hand smoke.
A public consultation over the issue showed that 97 per cent of people agreed or strongly agreed with the introduction of the ban. Among smokers who responded to the survey, the figure was 88 per cent.
Julia Weldon, Director of Public Health at Hull City Council, said:
“We were delighted to see such overwhelming support from the public for banning smoking in playgrounds, including amongst smokers themselves. We want to do all we can to create a generation of people for whom smoking is not seen as the norm. We can reinforce this by ensuring our children and young people don’t see adults smoking in day-to-day life and go on to mimic that behaviour.
“While there won’t be any penalties for anyone who breaches the ban, we’re confident that people will be willing to respect it. Other local authority areas in the UK have already implemented bans which have been effective without the need for the use of fines. We’ll be monitoring its effectiveness for a period of six months and will carry out a review at the end.
“While smoking rates in Hull are improving (27 per cent, national average 16 per cent), they are still too high and tackling smoking remains a priority for us. We still see 40 people per month in Hull die as a result of conditions directly related to smoking and it causes more preventable deaths than the next six highest causes combined. The only way we can make a real difference to these figures for the next generation is by changing attitudes to smoking and ensuring they don’t take it up.”
The introduction of smoke-free playgrounds follows successful trials of a voluntary no smoking code at the National Play Day event this year and in 2016.
