Pubs to pay for street smoking
Oxfordshire hosts have been told to pay £500 a year to have tables outside their pub - as part of a crackdown on street smoking ahead of the smoking ban.
Licensee Jacqui Howard labelled Oxfordshire County Council's demands "too stupid for words" - and her town council also slated the move.
Oxfordshire County Coun-cil is setting steep licence fees for tables and chairs outside pubs because it wants to prevent roads being blocked when customers smoke
outside.
In a letter to Greene King lessee Howard, it ordered her to remove the four tables and 16 chairs at the front of the Dolphin in Wallingford.
She refused and was told to pay £500 for an annual licence for the tables and chairs.
"I couldn't believe it," said Howard. "[The council] said they didn't want hundreds of people outside the pub when smoking is banned."
Wallingford Town Council wrote to the county council and local MP Ed Vaizey in protest.
Local councillors want to encourage tables and chairs outside pubs to attract visitors.
Brian Fell, Oxfordshire County Council's assistant head of transport, said the council is "concerned about the likely proliferation of
outside tables or chairs
following the smoking ban coming into force".
Fell added that the
council was reacting to
disability pressure groups that have concerns about obstructions on pavements.
COuncil wants pavement powerS
Westminster City Council is to call for new powers to crack down on people smoking on pavements outside pubs when the smoking ban comes in, the MA understands.
It plans to ask for these powers in its submission to the smoke ban consultation. Westminster pointed to reports that showed a massive increase in noise outside pubs after smoking was banned in Scotland.
