Christchurch council mulls 'vapefree' public spaces in line with smokefree policy

A type of vaping device. Photo / Bevan Conley

"Smokefree" areas in Christchurch could also become "vapefree".

The Christchurch City Council adopted a Smokefree Public Places Policy in 2009, but with the growth in popularity of vaping products and recent legislative changes, the council wanted to amend its policy to include vaping.

It also comes after the Government passed the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (vaping) Amendment Act 2020.

The council's draft Smokefree and Vapefree Public Places Policy would cover publicly owned areas which included neighbourhood parks, gardens and heritage parks, reserves, sports parks, playgrounds, bus passenger shelters, primary entrances and exits of council buildings and facilities (including libraries and recreation and support centres), licensed footpaths for outdoor dining use, and council events.

The draft policy was not a ban on smoking or vaping in a public place, but "was more about encouraging compliance in the spirit of promoting healthy lifestyle changes".

Signage would be installed to indicate "smokefree and vapefree zones" where possible and appropriate.

Council-run events or events on council land would also promote smokefree and vapefree messages on banners and through PA announcements.

The policy was "educative, self-policing, and no fines will be used against those who breach the policy".

A report by council staff, which would be considered when the new draft policy was expected to be discussed at a council meeting on Thursday, said the council could alternatively retain the existing policy, but said this could result in a "proliferation" of people vaping in council-controlled smokefree public places.

This would result in "normalising" vaping in a smokefree area, the report said.

"Vaping is considered less harmful than smoking, but not without risk as the long-term impacts of vaping are currently unknown," it said.

Fifteen other councils had already included vaping into their smokefree policies.