No Smoking In Our Parks And Playgrounds

Marlborough’s playgrounds and sports fields are No Smoking zones.

However, the Smokefree Marlborough student rap presentation that caught Council’s attention during the hearing of submissions on the Annual Plan provided a valuable reminder that the message can get forgotten, says Mayor Alistair Sowman.

The students asked that all parks, playgrounds and sportsgrounds, swimming pools and reserves be declared smokefree.

Government legislation already bans cigarettes from many places, including grandstands and pavilions, and Council has signs up in many of our public spaces discouraging smoking.

Unfortunately, signs thanking people for not smoking in our playgrounds are regularly damaged by vandals. And, over time, some people stop noticing the message on the signs.

More up-to-date signs will be installed as the budget allows and Mr Sowman is inviting the young people from Smokefree Marlborough to Council’s Youth Forum to share their ideas for freshening up the designs to get the no-smoking message across.