Smoking to be banned in playing fields

Smoking is to be banned from playing fields as from the beginning of next year, Parliamentary Secretary Chris Said announced today.

He said the decision has just been taken by the Cabinet and a legal notice will be published shortly.

He pointed out that despite the fact that playing fields are in the open, there is a high concentration of children and it was felt that smoking was unsuitable, not least for health reasons.

Dr Said made his comments at Mtarfa where a project for the rehabilitation of the locality's playing field has been launched.

This was one of 31 playing fields which were closed after inspectors found them unsafe over the past few weeks. Two of the playing fields which were closed down are in Gozo, including the one at Victoria, where the process for its upgrading is starting.

The inspections will be held every year.