Manchester Piccadilly Gardens considered for outdoor smoking ban

Piccadilly Gardens is being considered for a smoke-free zone in Manchester

Manchester's Piccadilly Gardens is among a range of places in the city being considered as areas for a complete ban on smoking in public.

Residents, community groups and businesses are being asked if some outdoor spaces should be smoke-free.

St Peter's Square and the area around Manchester Town Hall are also being considered for the outdoor smoke-free public spaces.

The city-region wants to emulate similar bans in Melbourne and New York.

Smokers would be asked to stub out their cigarette or leave the smoke-free zones as part of the pilot project.

There are no plans to introduce fines for people caught smoking, with an "education-first" approach adopted instead, offering smokers support to quit, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

Developers behind Mayfield Park, the new "green lung" of the city set to open later this year, are already in talks about becoming a smoke-free space.

Banning smoking around the Etihad Stadium has also been suggested.

People are asked to nominate areas to be smoke-free zones

The new park near Piccadilly Station is currently the only public space under "active consideration", Manchester councillors heard.

Greater Manchester Deputy Mayor Paul Dennett said the region had some of the highest smoking rates in the country and this initiative was part of "important work to make smoking history".

The chair of Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) added: "Consultations carried out in 2018 showed us that eight out of 10 people thought it was a good idea - with areas of most concern including children's playgrounds, school entrances and outside public libraries and town halls."

The public consultation invites people across Greater Manchester to nominate smoke-free areas with the first new smoke-free outdoor public space expected to be introduced by the end of this year.