Square to stub it out?

THE main drag . . . Parliament Square in Oldham town centre could become a smoke-free zone

1 More Image(s) In Gallery

OLDHAM'S Parliament Square could be transformed into a no smoking zone under plans to make Greater Manchester tobacco free.

The public square, based within the town centre's retail core, was listed alongside Heaton Park as a city space which could be subjected to the scheme.

The proposals form part of a wider aim to cut smoking to one in eight or less over the next four years, as laid out by Greater Manchester Health and Social Care (GMHSC) Partnership.

It is understood the square was selected as a "family friendly" area as part of efforts to create tobacco-free zones for children and young people.

It is unknown at this early stage how the proposals would affect existing businesses in the public square.

Assistant manager at Molino Lounge, Katie Armstrong, said: "I think it is a good idea to have a smoke-free area so no-one gets second-hand smoke and people don't have to put up with the smell but I don't think smokers will want to be restricted from a whole area.

"First they were told they couldn't smoke inside and this would mean they couldn't smoke outside.

"Half of our outside area is used by smokers and we provide ashtrays.

"We are part of a chain so it would be management who decide whether we adopt this."

Other firms which are likely to be affected if the smoke-free zone was implemented include Costa Coffee, based at the Old Town Hall, TJ Hughes and delicatessen and café The Parliament Sq.

Café owner Ross McGivern said: "We are looking to have seating outside for smokers so I probably wouldn't be in favour of this.

"But I imagine it will probably happen and there wouldn't be much we could do about it."

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, is spearheading GMHSC's Tobacco Free Greater Manchester plan which includes providing targeted support, ending smoking outside hospital doors and using digital services to help people quit.

Mr Burnham said: "We have some of the worst death rates from smoking in England ­- it's time to make smoking history for all our children.

"We want to involve the people of Greater Manchester in a serious conversation about how far and how fast we should go to firstly get down to the England average. But I think we could be more ambitious still and lead the way to work towards a smoke-free Greater Manchester."

There are currently 393,000 adult smokers in Greater Manchester, with 60,000 more smokers than if our smoking rates were at the national average.

GMHSC's ambitious plan aims to reduce smoking in the city by one third by 2021, resulting in 115,000 fewer smokers.

As well as creating smoke-free public spaces, the Partnership hopes to offer new ways to quit, including digital services such as apps, to cut smoking to one person in eight or less over the next four years.

Targeting specific groups, such as pregnant women, and reducing smoking in the workplace were also listed as methods to achieve this aim.

Finally, the 'Ditch or Switch' message will be promoted to support people to vape if they are unable to quit smoking altogether.

Director of Population Health for GMHSC Partnership, Sarah Price, said: "Working together we've achieved great changes such as the smoke-free laws which recently extended to cars carrying children, and got rid of glitzy tobacco packaging. But there's a lot more that we know works and we can do starting straight away; and other more radical and new steps we need to consider if we're going to reach our very ambitious targets."