Businesses across Telford & Wrekin have given giving their backing to the controversial smoking ban with just a handful slapped with warnings for flouting the law introduced almost a year ago.
And since the law was brought in on July 1 last year, Telford & Wrekin Council has inspected more than 1,050 premises covered by the law.
The council has found more than 98 per cent of these businesses now no longer allow smoking on their premises.
In the first nine months of the law, the council has also had to issue only five warning letters to businesses it found flouting the legislation.
Following this, no further action has been needed as these businesses have now come into line with the laws.
But the smoking ban has come in for criticism from some landlords who claim it has helped to virtually destroy the pub trade.
Under the new law, smokers can be hit with a £50 fixed penalty fine for lighting up in an enclosed or partially-enclosed public space. Businesses also face a fine of £2,500 if they knowingly flout the smoking ban.
Councillor Jacqui Seymour, cabinet member for adult and consumer care, said: “These are very encouraging figures for Telford & Wrekin, which closely mirror what has been happening nationally.
“Our aim has always been for the smoke-free laws to be self-regulating, with enforcement only a last resort when all other measures have failed.
“I am delighted this has proved to be the case so far, underlining the breadth of public support there is for smoke-free.
“As is the case nationally, the number of businesses displaying the correct signage is lower, at 80 per cent. This is not yet as high as we would like it to be but we continue to work very closely with businesses on improving this.
“This law was never about councils becoming some sort of smoking police, but about us working with businesses and the public and I am delighted, in a relatively short space of time, we have achieved very nearly full compliance simply through support and cooperation.”
By Lisa Rowley
14 Comments
Hear hear - us non smokers - the vast majority i hasten to add! Are delighted that as we said all along banning smoking in public places has improved things for everyone, I think they should go even further and ban it everywhere but in the individuals home / car like they do in parts of the USA
so why are all the pubs closing then…
Apart from the smokers are now outside pubs and clubs even at the entrance to telford town centre by the bus staion - so now you have to walk through plumbs of smoke before you can enter the town centre or pubs and clubs
Merely moving the problem from one area to another.
What will they ban next?
Hope its fatty food, bad for you and costs the NHS/ tax payer a fortune.
Wire up their jaws!
The ban is a good thing and a success for the Labour government (rare one) who rememeber got some stick for being ”nanny state” when they proposed it, this has shown they were right and indeed are right, to nanny people to protect the public at large… However its been forgotton that there is now much more litter as a result especially stubs. I think the savings for the NHS should be ploughed into more street sweeping please
I hope they kick the Labor morons out next election and re-legalise smoking in PRIVATE BUSINESS PREMISES like pubs and clubs.
john, how can boarded up pubs full of squatters be a vast improvement.
they’ll never do that even though labour are going to go, because the whole policy has been a massive success, I know individuals personally who have given up due to the ban
The downturn in pub trade is nothing more than that affecting all businesses. The economy is in freefall, people have less money than one year ago. The smoking ban has made it possible for non-smokers to drink and eat in comfort for the first time ever. Thousands of smokers will wisely give up this stupid habit and save themselves from a painful lingering death. This is certainly the only thing that New Labour has done for us!
I am very concerned that the real issue here is about “banning” something being a “success”.
THINK ABOUT IT.
Is that what we want REAL government for - to BAN things that ordinary and generally law abiding people do ?
The populace can only be “govnerned” by way of of general “consent” to be governed, in return for fair Taxation and representation. Banning this and that will eventually result in a society “unwilling” to be governed.
And then look out! -
And…… do we detect that this is already happening??
This is a VERY dangerous precedent, and can only lead to more and more time being spent, ……by those supposed to be charged with maintaining a “just society” by responsible government, …..- into looking for more things to ban, whilst REAL issues get forgotten.
If the going gets really tough, is anyone honestly going to worry about someone lighting up in a public place? - or are we going to turn our attentions to what really matters?
thousands less smokers, hundreds less corpses, billions less cost for the NHS, well done to the government for banning smoking, a great policy which has improved all our lives
It’s going to be so ’sucessful’ that all you non-smokers are not going to have any pubs LEFT to go to. Another bit of British tradition destroyed by NuLabour - to think they were once the party of the working class Brit. Shame on them.
Although I do not smoke myself I find all this Government legislation very big brother and I wonder just how far it will go?
Well, I’d guess they are going to ‘do something’ about drinking. They’ve started by setting the maximum units at a ridiculously low level, so as to turn a large chunk of the population into ‘problem drinkers’. Do some research into the scientific background to the ‘3-4 units’ a day limit.