Smokefree zones extended

Rotorua Lakes council is banning smoking around its public facilities in an effort to stamp out the habit by 2025. Photo / File

Rotorua Lakes Council is removing designated smoking areas from its facilities, making all of them smokefree.

However, the local authority will not be able to punish or stop people from smoking in those areas.

The new smokefree zones apply to the public as well as council staff and include the footpaths around the council's main office and the Sir Howard Morrison Performing Arts Centre, the council car park on Arawa St and the band rotunda and Te Rununga Tearooms in the nearby Government Gardens.

Council spokesman Richard Bird said signs around the new smokefree areas would tell people they could not light up.

"Although there is no penalty for ignoring the signs, we are asking that the public respect these zones and refrain from smoking in these areas," he added. During the year the policy change will be rolled out to other council facilities, including the Rotorua Museum and the Aquatic Centre, with designated smoking areas to be removed at those sites too.

The goal was to have all council facilities smokefree by the end of the year.

Rotorua Lakes Council is one of more than 20 councils which have smokefree outdoor spaces policies, as part of the Government's goal of a smokefree New Zealand by 2025.

Toi Te Ora/Bay of Plenty medical officer of health Dr Phil Shoemack congratulated the council on its leadership on the issue.

"With the national goal of less than 1 in 20 people smoking only 10 years away we need to work harder to denormalise smoking.

"This policy will help stop young people from taking up smoking in the first place, by making it less visible to them in their impressionable youth." The Smokefree outdoor spaces policy was adopted by the council in 2011. It covers all parks and reserves, children's playgrounds and the Redwood recreational area, among others.

"The outdoor spaces policy was developed after community consultation and has been generally successful with wide compliance and we are confident the same will be the case around our council facilities," Mr Bird said.

The council has previously signalled that areas covered by the smokefree policy will be extended, but council strategy and partnerships group manager Jean-Paul Gaston said there were currently no plans to expand it beyond council facilities.

New and future Smokefree Zones

The Civic Centre

* The Sir Howard Morrison Performing Arts Centre, including the footpaths around the buildings

* The council car park on Arawa St

* The Band Rotunda and Te Rununga Tearooms in Government Gardens

* The i-Site

* Rotorua Museum

* The Aquatic Centre

* Castlecorp

* The crematorium

* The recycling centre and landfill

Current Smokefree Zones

* The library

* Council nursery

* Destination Rotorua Marketing

* The wastewater treatment plant

* City Focus

* The Redwoods

* Council transfer stations

* All children's playgrounds

* Childcare centres

* Ports facilities

* Public toilet