Smoking ban outside pubs and restaurants could help save part of £82.9m a year

Members of Brighton and Hove’s health and wellbeing committee were discussing a report looking at ways to help encourage people to give up the habit and cut the health and economic cost of smoking.

The committee was told a growing number of organisations around the UK were successfully introducing bans on smoking outside.

Members were broadly supportive of the idea of the ban but there were some concerns raised about its effectiveness if not enough organisations signed up to the scheme.

Brighton and Hove City Council Green councillor Dick Page said smokers should not be pilloried too much but it should be recognised smoking was a major issue.

He said: “Anything we can do to encourage moves to have smoke-free environments not just indoors, is a move in the right direction.”

Committee chairman and Labour councillor Daniel Yates said discussions he had heard so far about the voluntary scheme had been reasoned.

The estimated cost of smoking to Brighton and Hove is £82.9 million a year.

Smoking is the biggest cause of premature death in the city.

The illnesses and diseases that smoking cause creates demand on the NHS and adult social care at a time when funding is under pressure.

Smoking among adults in the city, which stands at about 21 per cent, continues to be significantly high compared to the national average of 17 per cent.

Regular and occasional smoking among 15-year-olds in the city is 15 per cent compared to the national average of eight per cent.

The move is part of efforts by city council and NHS bosses in Brighton and Hove to help reduce the impact of smoking in the city.

It follows a consultation run by the council in 2015 asking people for their views about smoking in outside public spaces.

Suggestions for a smoking ban on the city’s beaches and parks was not supported in the survey.

However, there was majority support from non-smoking residents that restaurants and pubs with outdoor seating should be smoke free.

Work has started on a smoke-free outdoor dining scheme in the city which businesses will be asked to sign up to.

Unlike the national ban on smoking in public places indoors, there is no legislation to impose a ban on outdoor areas so any move by businesses would be voluntary.

Giuseppe Colasurdo, who owns Al Fresco in King’s Road Arches, Brighton, said smoking had been banned outside his restaurant for five years.

He said: “I am really against smoking. I think smoking outside should not be allowed.”

Concerns raised against the proposals include the possibility of losing customers to other places where there is no ban and the impact on people’s civil liberties.

Others say most people will use their common sense and regulate their smoking when people are eating.

This is particularly the case when there are young children around.

MIXED VIEWS FROM TRADERS OVER PROPOSAL

By Thomas Gabbidon​

THE idea of a voluntary ban has received a mixed response from traders.

Giuseppe Colasurdo, who owns Al Fresco in King’s Road Arches, said: “We have banned smoking outside Al Fresco for five years now.

“I hate smoking. It’s a personal thing.

“You get maybe 500 people and maybe one person who walks out because of smoking but then again a lot of people benefit from that.

“I am really against smoking. I think smoking outside should not be allowed.

“Voluntary banning won’t work. I think it should be the law, that’s the only way people are going to stop.

“That’s why freedom of choice doesn’t work”

Kevin Luxford, the ower of Grand Junction, in King’s Road Arches, said: “It will deter some customers from visiting for sure. Separate areas would be a better idea.

“Smoking is frowned upon. I wouldn’t say it’s anti-social as such when you think of other pollutions and everything else in the world. Fossil fuels, stuff like that.”

“You should designate the areas properly.

“I think smokers are aware and conscious of smoking around children.

“It comes with age.

“A lot of young people follow their friends.”