Five UK Councils Ban Smoking Outside Pubs And Restaurants

Five councils in England have banned people from smoking on pavements outside pubs and restaurants.

North Tyneside, Durham, Newcastle, Northumberland and Manchester City councils have all started to use the ban in the licensing agreements given to businesses operating in their areas.

According to licensing conditions for establishments seeking approval for outdoor service in these regions, no smoking is allowed on pavements being used for service.

As well as this, restrictions were also placed on noise levels and the height of umbrellas and canopies.

The regulations were first announced last summer, when bars and hospitality venues were allowed to reopen following the first lockdown and were in need of outside space, often using public walkways, in order to comply with social distancing measures.

At the time, a spokesperson from Manchester City Council said: "In the run up to July 4, when the hospitality industry was allowed to reopen, a series of measures were rapidly put in place in Manchester to allow businesses to trade on pavements and roads ahead of the legislation formally facilitating this.

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"Now that the Business and Planning Act 2020 has come into effect, Manchester City Council will now require all businesses who are temporarily trading under a 'pavement licence' to ensure that their seating areas are smoke free."

They added: "While national legislation requires premises to set aside an area for smokers, the Council has decided to take a step further in line with its ambition to cut the number of smokers in Manchester.

"Statistics show that Manchester has one of the worst rates nationally for lung cancer registrations, cardiovascular disease, male under 75 mortality rates from lung cancer and male under 75 mortality from heart disease."

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Oxfordshire is also set to ban smoking outdoors, as part of plans for the region to be completely smoke-free by 2025.

According to the Oxford Mail, a plan agreed by public health officials last year is finally 'underway'.

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The county's strategy includes creating more environments where people feel 'empowered' not to smoke.

A councillor has asked Cherwell District Council to make all new pavement licenses - which allow bars and restaurants to have outdoor seating areas - smoke-free.

Officials would also aim to encourage employers to stop people smoking outside offices and factories, and to create new smoke-free areas in pavement dining spaces.

Oxfordshire's Public Health Director Ansaf Azhar said that this was part of a 'long game' to try and change smoking culture, and therefore prevent deaths from diseases linked to tobacco.

Speaking to the county's health improvement partnership board, he said: "It is not about telling people not to smoke.

"It is about moving and creating an environment in which not smoking is encouraged and they are empowered to do so.

"But that is not going to happen overnight."

Topics: restaurants, newcastle, lockdown, Oxford, Smoking, Politics, Health

Dominic Smithers

Dominic graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History. Like you, Dom has often questioned how much use a second language has been. Well, after stints working at the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express, along with never setting foot in France, he realised the answer is surprisingly little. But I guess, c'est la vie. Contact us at [email protected]

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