Smokers will be told to stub out their cigarettes before entering children’s playgrounds, under a new campaign launched in Waltham Forest.
Waltham Forest Council has installed signage in and around play areas to encourage users to extinguish their cigarettes before entering.
Cllr Ahsan Khan, the council’s cabinet member for health and wellbeing, said: ‘Our children’s play areas are for healthy play, not cigarette smoke.
‘Research shows that the less children see adults smoke, the less “normal” they think it is, reducing the chances of them starting smoking themselves. So, our message is simple, don’t puff away while children play.’
A recent report from the London Health Commission that smoking should be banned in parks across the capital in a bid to make London the ‘healthiest major global city’.
The council said if successful, the campaign could be the start of banning smoking in parks entirely.