Smoke police in training (From Harrow Times)

Smoke police in training

5:25pm Wednesday 6th June 2007 in

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SIX council officers have been trained to enforce the smoking ban when it comes into effect on July 1.

And despite the Government shelling out £29.5million to help local councils enforce the ban, Harrow Council has received only £110,000 from the Department of Health funding - £90,000 of which will be spent on the smoking ban, according to Sivashankar Shankar, service manager for Community Safety, Harrow Council.

Plans are in the pipeline for another 15-20 environmental officers will receive additional training to enforce the smoking ban when it comes into force.

Mr Shankar explained that in the first instance the council would use "education to enforce the ban" and statutory powers to dish out £80 on the spot fines would only be used "as a last resort."

He said: "We want to help people quit smoking and, as I say, we will rely on premises to enforce the law themselves, but we will be helping them do this."

The council has identified a number of trouble spots where an increase in litter could be a problem but, as yet, new bins have not been purchased and Mr shankar could not give an estimate of the cost to install them.

Ginette Unsworth, a spokesman for Keep Britain Tidy, said: "Smoking-related litter is a serious stain on the country's streets and it is likely to increase when the new legislation is introduced."

The council has already axed £3.2million from its street cleaning services since the Tory administration came into power a year ago.

Cllr Chris Mote, leader of Harrow Council, said: "We will do all we can to support and give advice to people and help them quit smoking and we will be looking into the purchase and location of bins to find the most appropriate locations."