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BEDA COMMENT

Smoking areas

Operational, BEda comment, February 2007, COMMENTS

It’s not often that I find myself quoting rapper Princess Superstar (from The Quitting Smoking Song): “got ninety nine problems and cigarettes is number one” - yet it seemed a pretty apt lyric to demonstrate the lot of many operators at this point in time.

The issue is not just that the ban is coming but the business uncertainty that this change will bring. If the pattern follows other countries where bans have been brought in, the ban will hit hardest in the community pubs, the bingo halls and the snooker halls, but will also present major challenges for the late night sector too.

Recently I sat round the table with a DCMS Minister and DoH official. The meeting quite rightly was not to rehash the arguments for the ban’s implementation - this has been raked over enough. It was to look at the practical issues as far as implementation is concerned. For BEDA members overwhelmingly there were a small number of crucial issues which stood out above all the rest:

Acceptable structures: What constitutes an acceptable smoking structure continues to be a hot topic with operators, planners and those who will enforce the ban. The regulations, directly imported from the Scottish regs, are not as clear as they could be. What seems to be the case is that anything with a roof and under 50% wall space will comply. Anything which is capable of being closed - be it a door or a window - in this structure is to be regarded as closed (whether it is or not) and will count towards the 50%. This will also be the case with awnings, regardless of whether they are folded or not. There is ongoing debate over courtyards which are enclosed on four sides.

The application process: Mindful of the horrendous situation created by applying for new licences under the Licensing Act 2003, BEDA raised the issue of ensuring a decent length of time to process planning applications for the smoking ban. We raised the issues of over 300 councils having elections in May - just at the point when operators may be trying to get final sign off for their smoking structures. We were assured that most applications will be handled by planning officers and will not need to go through planning committees, so shouldn’t get held up. We are monitoring this situation closely and would welcome being contacted by individuals if this proves not to be the case.

Congregating Smokers: Having large numbers of smokers outside premises has the potential to cause additional complaints from residents and present a logistical challenge of managing the flow of customers in and out of premises. Early meetings with planning officers to discuss the issues surrounding noise is advised to get some kind of understanding on what the parameters are at local level. Clearly not all officials will come to the same conclusion and there will be inconsistencies from authority to authority. BEDA argues that this will create competitive advantages (and therefore obviously disadvantages) to operators who have venues which abut neighbouring authorities. Clearly if council ‘A’ in one area take a reasonable view in accommodating smokers outside, whilst neighbouring council ‘B’ overzealously stamps on operators with any additional noise outside their premises, then ‘A’ will have the advantage.

Customer Non-compliance: If the pattern of behaviour follows the Scottish experience, the vast majority of customers will comply with the ban. Yet what about those customers who light up against the wishes of the licensee? With DCMS and DoH we are working out a protocol where managers or licence holders can ask customers to extinguish cigarettes on their premises. If they do not comply then they can report and register the incident, not to police (and thereby risk a black mark against the premise) but to another body - perhaps the local council. The incident thus being logged would absolve the licensee from blame. We’re keen to have a signed off protocol on this, so would welcome any feedback on useful steps which could be put into a leaflet which would be disseminated shortly to premises.
Remember to keep checking the www.beda.org.uk for any policy and news updates and please feedback to us about how the smoking ban is being implemented in your area.

Words: Paul Smith (Executive Director of BEDA)

From: February 2007 Issue

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