KEY POINTS:
Twenty years ago, smoking was a way of life in Opotiki.
Robbie Petersen, a non-smoker and councillor in the eastern Bay of Plenty community, said after-match functions at the rugby club were particularly bad.
"You could cut the smoke in the air with a knife, it was so thick," he said. "I always went home stinking."
Parks and reserves manager Mike Houghton said councillors themselves used to smoke in the council chamber.
"There are photos of them all sitting there proud as anything with a cigarette in their hands."
But those days are over, and smoking outdoors is also about to disappear in Opotiki.
The Opotiki District Council has become the latest council, and the first in the Bay of Plenty, to introduce a smoke-free policy covering outdoor recreational areas, meaning council-owned playgrounds, parks, sports fields, reserves, gardens and beaches are now officially smoke-free.
It is a moral rather than legal ban which authorities hope will deter smokers from lighting up, or at least make them accountable to others.
"If there's a sign there and someone reminds them it's a non-smoking area, then maybe they might walk away," Mr Petersen said.
The policy had the support of the district's six councillors and mayor.
"I believe that young children and unborn children should be able to breathe fresh air, not smoke."
South Taranaki District Council introduced a smoke-free policy for parks and reserves in May 2005, followed by Upper Hutt about a year later, and Taranaki in August last year.
But the Opotiki policy is believed to be the most wide-ranging, with the smoke-free areas also including beaches overseen by the council.
The Rotorua District Council looks likely to follow.
Jenna Clarke, health promoter at the Bay of Plenty public health organisation Toi Te Ora, commended the Opotiki council for its actions.
"Ideally, other councils will adopt such policies."
A Toi Te Ora survey carried out in January had shown the majority of the community supported the idea.
Of more than 200 people polled, 69 per cent said they supported smoke-free outdoor spaces and 80 per cent said smokers should not be able to light up in children's play areas.
This was despite the fact that 31 per cent of those surveyed were smokers.
Opotiki residents who spoke to the Herald yesterday had mixed views on the policy, with non-smokers generally supporting it and smokers saying they were opposed. But there were more supporters than opponents.
The smoke-free signs designed by a local artist go up in the affected areas next week.
The council plans to further study public reaction in May.
A Cancer Society study found two-thirds of New Zealanders supported the expansion of smoke-free areas to include outdoor areas used by children and 70 per cent of people said community events should be smoke-free.
