Unless you’ve been out of the country, you can’t fail to have noticed the latest debate gripping the town: should Hastings go smoke free?
Council leader Jeremy Birch raised the issue at a full Council meeting on July 28 and the issue was quickly picked up in the local press.
If Hastings was to follow in the footsteps of cities such as Dublin, the town’s bars, clubs and restaurants could find themselves on the end of a smoking ban.
Cllr Jeremy Birch said:
“Everyone accepts smoking bans on buses and trains now and it enforces itself. The Government is considering the issue of smoking in public places and may give the discretion to ban it to local authorities. So let’s have the debate now in the town and raise the whole issue of smoking and health.”
One hundred people die each year in Hastings from smoking related diseases and it remains the largest single cause of serious ill health among residents.
According to the Healthy Region Forum, 16,000 people die each year from smoking in the South East.
Treating smoking related diseases comes with a weighty price tag, with the region’s NHS coughing up £200m every year.
Members of the Forum, part of the South East England Regional Assembly, agreed to push forward the idea of non-smoking communities and encourage local authorities to start the ball rolling.
What do you think? Do you support a total smoking ban in all public places in Hastings, or should smokers be allowed to smoke where and when they please?
For advice on stopping smoking contact the NHS Smoking Helpline on 0800 169 0 169.
More than 1,000 shoppers took advantage of a low energy light bulb giveaway.
The Council’s energy efficiency team handed out the light bulbs in Priory Meadow shopping centre earlier this year as part of an energy efficiency road show.
Improving energy efficiency in homes during the winter months and cutting fuel bills was the name of the game and residents were offered advice by the team to do just that.
Each year every home in the UK releases six tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere through energy waste; this gas is the main cause of climate change.
The road shows, held in September and March, give advice on grants, available to help with the cost of installing energy efficiency measures such as loft insulation and cavity wall insulation. Both measures reduce the use of gas and electricity – and lower fuel bills.
The Heat and Sun grant is available for cavity wall insulation and loft insulation to owner-occupiers regardless of income, while the Warm Front Grant is a benefit related grant that can help to improve heating as well as provide cavity wall and loft insulation. Warm Front grants are available to owner-occupiers and tenants of private landlords.
Low energy light bulbs were given away at the road shows to people who filled in a Home Energy Check. Every home is different, so by letting the team know as much as possible about where you live, they can tell you about how much energy you could be saving. Each person who filled in the questionnaire received a personalised report with recommendations for improving the energy efficiency of their home and details of the savings they can make to their fuel bills.
Utility companies donate the light bulbs as part of their commitment to encourage energy efficiency in homes. People are always pleased to receive the free light bulbs and the information they receive in return helps monitor the progress made in the town to reduce our energy consumption. Each bulb uses a quarter of the energy of a normal light bulb and lasts up to ten years.
The Local Pensions Service, Energywatch and the East Sussex Energy Efficiency Advice Centre joined us at the Road show in March.
For more information about energy efficiency grants call Senior Environmental Health Officer, on 0800 138 1433
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This page last updated: 29/09/2004