Plan to make city 'smoke-free' by 2030 approved

The council said almost £2m would be used to tackle the city’s "biggest preventable killer"

A council's plan to make a city "smoke free" by 2030 has been been approved.

Liverpool City Council said it wanted to "denormalise" smoking by banning it from more public places and using existing laws to step up controls on the supply of tobacco.

The authority said about 17% of the city's residents were smokers, who each spent up to £2,500 annually on the habit.

It said almost £2m would be used to clamp down on the city’s "biggest preventable killer", support people in quitting smoking and stop others from taking it up.

A report to the council's cabinet said the aim of the Stopping the Start plan was to help Liverpudlians "to live longer, healthier and wealthier lives in a city where they can play and work without exposure to the harms of tobacco smoke".

The proposal was drawn up following an independent review in 2022.

When it was first announced in May, a council representative said smoking was "a major cause of health inequalities in Liverpool".

They said it caused "avoidable illness" and created a "greater burden for the most disadvantaged families and communities".

Existing funding of £1.1m ringfenced through the core public health grant will be used to fund the project in 2024/25, with an additional £831,000 made available through a support grant.