Liberal Democrat leader Howard Sykes calls for play areas to go smoke free

Liberal Democrat Group Leader on Oldham Council, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE

The Leader of the Opposition and Liberal Democrat Group Leader on Oldham Council, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, has written to the Leader of the Council, Councillor Jean Stretton, asking her to make play areas in Oldham smoke free.

Oldham Council has recently proposed that Parliament Square be made smoke-free. Whilst Councillor Sykes supports this, he says is confident that "Oldham Council can do so much more".

He said: “Smoking is a public health emergency; it is a contributory factor in many of the deaths that occur in our Borough from cancer, heart disease and strokes, and it causes chronic ill-health amongst many of our residents.

“We should do all that we can to reduce tobacco consumption, and above all to reduce the exposure of non-smokers, especially children, to tobacco smoke.”

In his letter to the Council Leader, Councillor Sykes cites voluntary bans introduced in Basingstoke and Deane and in Norwich to prevent smoking in children’s play areas.

He added: “Although such ‘bans’ are voluntary, they are intended to provide a further ‘nudge’ in behaviour to encourage smokers to refrain from smoking in areas where children may breathe their secondary smoke.

“These bans had strong support from the public in consultations, and they have been successful in affecting behaviour change.

“I therefore believe that they should be introduced in our play areas here and I have asked the Leader to consider consulting on and piloting several such schemes."

Councillor Sykes does however caution about excluding E-cigarettes from any ban.

He said: “I think it should be clear that these bans apply equally to E-smokers as well as smokers, partially because it is often unclear where an E-cigarette in use is actually nicotine-free.”