No more smoke-ban guidance

Trade left fuming over lack of planning rules for outdoor smoking shelters

Government will not release any more guidance to clarify whether pub smoking shelters comply with the smoking ban rules.

Department of Health officials have said the follow-up guidance will only refer to signage - and the guide from local government co-ordinator LACORS will also lack specific measurements for shelters.

This will anger licensees and operators who are confused about whether their proposed shelters will comply with the ban. It also makes it more likely that licensees will face a "postcode lottery" over how the rules on smoking shelters are interpreted.

Crown Awnings managing director Tony Holman was told in a meeting with Andrew Black, of the Smokefree legislation team at the Depart-ment of Health, that the new guidance would not cover key issues about shelters.

These include whether a covered courtyard is classed as a substantially enclosed place and how far a roof can be from the wall of a shelter.

Only details on signage requirements will be included in the guidance, which is due in the next few weeks.

"There will be no planning guidance whatsoever," said Holman. LACORS will also not offer clear-cut dimensions in guidance for local authorities. "It will not go as far as to stipulate measurements of roofs to walls or shelters to other walls," said a LACORS spokesman. "It will be up to the individual officers to use their judgement."

Graeme Cushion, of law firm Poppleston Allen, said forthcoming guidance from Government will not state how close a roof needs to be to

a wall for that wall to be considered part of the structure.

He said: "In Ireland the guidance was 50mm and in Scotland 500mm. In England and Wales, it will be left to common sense. The message coming through from the Department of Health is that anything which is within the spirit of the legislation will be acceptable and anything which is not will not."

Paul Wigham, boss of Bar Group, which operates 32 sites in south east England, recently contacted several councils to find out whether shelters on courtyards would comply with the rules.

"They were absolutely clueless," he said. "We don't know what to do in these sites. We are sitting here waiting because we were told there would be more guidance. It's ludicrous."

He added: "You can bet your life that what one council will argue [complies with the rules] another won't."

The BII's director of membership Steve Howe said: "There's no doubt that additional guidance on smoking shelters would be welcome."

He said a key area where clarification was needed concerns the distance that shelters can be situated from walls - and he feared an "inconsistent" approach from councils.

Tensions in conservation areas

Green belt and conservation areas are proving the most difficult to get planning permission for smoking shelters.

That's the view of Mike Clist, general manager of tenanted and leased pubs at Fuller's, which owns a large number of pubs in green-belt land in the Home Counties. Green belts are designated areas, covering around 13% of land in England, where there are tighter restrictions on developments.

"If we are in a green-belt area you can't even put a patio flap down without permission," said Clist. "In green-belt areas the likelihood is you will be refused."

Plans for structures at pubs in conservation areas are also being refused because they are deemed to alter the look of the area, Clist said.

Minister promises softly-softly approach in wales

Smokers who unwittingly break Wales's smoking ban in pubs and bars will be "gently" informed of their indiscretion, according to the Welsh Assembly.

Welsh culture minister Alun Pugh said officials would not deliberately try to catch out smokers immediately, even if they were aware that the Welsh ban comes into force before the English one.

Lighting up in enclosed public places in Wales will be illegal from 2 April, compared to 1 July in England.

Pugh said at the Assembly's weekly press briefing: "Nobody is looking for a heavy-handed approach to enforcement on day one.

"It's going to be gently pointed out to them, 'look the rules here have changed'.

"We are not going to have somebody lurking in plain clothes, as it were, with a penalty fines book, looking to nick them at the first possible opportunity."

MA leads the way in big debate

The debate around smoking shelters will be on the agenda at the Morning Advertiser's smoking ban roadshows, which take place this month. Tony Holman of Crown Awnings will give his view, alongside speakers from Smokefree England and local authorities. Licensees and operators will also offer valuable advice on how to prepare for the ban. For more information see www.morningadvertiser.co.uk or call Diane Russell on 01293 610343.

advertising campaigns set new tone

Major advertising campaigns in advance of the smoking ban have begun.

The Government's "shocking" new campaign encourages people to stop smoking ahead of the July ban in England.

The campaign, "Invisible Killer", kicked off with a television advert this week showing cigarette smoke curling round guests at a wedding. Popular soap operas EastEnders and Coronation Street will also run storylines raising awareness of the smoking ban.

Public health minister Caroline Flint said: "With England going smoke-free on 1 July, there has never been a better time to stop smoking." The ads will run until 8 April.

The Welsh Assembly's campaign is called

"Time's up for second-

hand smoke".

Posters showing a clock face with stubbed out cigarettes replacing hands are currently being displayed on buses and trains, and a series of television adverts will run in April.

Guidance packs, including free no-smoking signage, are being sent to businesses in Wales.