On Wednesday, March 12 No Smoking Day, Rother District Council announced that two east Sussex beaches, Bexhill beach from the De La Warr Pavilion to the Coronation Bandstand on East Parade and all of Camber Sands beach, have been designated voluntary smoke free spaces as smokers are urged to quit the habit.
Visitors are being asked to support the voluntary initiative by choosing not to smoke on these beaches, helping to protect children and young people as well as the environment from the harmful effects of smoking.
Rob Tolfree, acting director of East Sussex Public Health, said: “Second-hand smoke is just as toxic outdoors as it is indoors. Creating two smoke free beaches in East Sussex will help protect our children and young people from the effects of smoking by encouraging people to think twice before smoking on the beach.”
To launch the scheme, local volunteers took part in a beach clean last month at Bexhill beach, in partnership with the Sussex Wildlife Trust. Rubbish collected included fishing poles, plastic fishing line, glass bottles and plastic bottle tops.
As one of the most littered items, cigarette butts take years to biodegrade and leak chemicals including nicotine, ethyl phenol and heavy metals into the sea as they breakdown, damaging delicate marine ecosystems.
Cllr Doug Oliver, leader of Rother District Council, said: “The district council welcomes this extremely positive initiative to establish the first voluntary smoke free beaches in England. As well as protecting people from second-hand smoke, creating smoke free beaches will also help protect our sea life and coastlines from the harm caused by cigarette and tobacco litter that is washed into the sea.
“Although the scheme is currently only in place on Camber Sands and part of Bexhill beach, we hope that through this initiative people will choose not to smoke when they are visiting any of our beaches in Rother.”
Mr Tolfree continued: “Quitting smoking is the best thing you can do for your health, and there’s no need to go it alone. It’s much easier to stop smoking when you get the right support and with free support offered by One You East Sussex you are more likely to quit for good.”
Camber residents naturally reacted to this news and one local said: “Maybe instead of worrying about trying to enforce no smoking at Camber, Rother District Council can put the bins back so this doesn’t happen. Broken bottles, dog poo bags, dirty nappies and more just lying on the ground and looking awful.”
To find out more about the help available to stop smoking, visit https://oneyoueastsussex.org.uk/programmes/stop-smoking/.
Image Credits: Kt bruce , Louisa Simmons .