Smokefree plan ‘seriously stupid’

WHANGANUI is looking to join a growing list of smokefree cities.

It wants to ban smoking within its CBD and a proposal will go to a council committee next week for discussion.

But it has already been dismissed as ‘‘seriously stupid and practically unenforceable’’ by councillor Michael Laws.

Councils in Auckland, Palmerston North, and Hamilton have bans similar to that proposed by Wanganui District Council.

However, one unnamed council has taken legal advice about passing a bylaw to ban smoking in public and was told that all councils would struggle to create enforceable laws.

Earlier this year, a University of Otago submission to Wellington City Council recommended ban- ning smoking along the Golden Mile of Courtenay Place, Willis St and Lambton Quay, as well as outside cafes.

But Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown said a blanket ban was too big a step, at least for now.

‘‘I think the whole of the CBD is taking it too far. Giving up smoking can be pretty tough.’’

Action on Smoking and Health said legal changes were not necessarily needed, and that moves by councils were more about showing their support for the Government’s stated aim of making New Zealand smokefree by 2025.

Medical officer Stephen Palmer, of Regional Public Health, said: ‘‘It can’t happen overnight, but we need to keep the momentum going.’’

Societal and environmental pressure could be more effective than outright bans.

‘‘It comes up quite often that these bylaws are very difficult to enforce.

‘‘It’s more to increase the pressures and nudges from the environment and help people to make a more healthy choice, both in terms of not smoking in the first place, but also offering support for current smokers.’’

Whanganui councillor Philippa Baker-Hogan, who will next week take the proposal to the community and environment com- mittee she chairs, said she saw no need for a bylaw ‘‘at this stage’’, and saw the move more as an ‘‘awareness and education policy’’.

Council senior policy adviser Stuart Hylton said, in a paper for the committee, that in 2010 the council had passed a bylaw that banned smoking in ‘‘designated premier parks and playgrounds’’.

The Local Government Act allowed local authorities to pass bylaws that protect or promote public health and safety.

‘‘However, it is interesting to note that, apart from our own smokefree bylaw, no other council has adopted smokefree bylaws,’’ he said.

‘‘Those that have looked at the issue have tended to take the conservative approach and adopt non-regulatory smokefree policies, like Auckland and Palmerston North.’’