Playgrounds to be smoke free soon, Cabinet decrees

Smoking will be banned in playgrounds as from next year in line with a legal notice to be published shortly, according to Local Councils Parliamentary Secretary Chris Said.

“Although playing fields are open areas, we felt the need to ban smoking as there is a high concentration of children,” he said at the derelict Mtarfa playground that will be rebuilt.

Anyone caught smoking in a playground would be fined between €233 and €1,164 under the Tobacco Control Act, a Health Ministry spokesman noted.

The spokesman said that the purpose of the legal notice was “to control smoking in the presence of children, therefore, avoiding this vulnerable group from being exposed to such a habit at an early age”.

Dr Said explained that the legal notice, “bound to be the cause of controversy”, was approved by Cabinet and would soon be published in the Government Gazette to become law in January 2012.

Commenting on timesofmalta.com, readers welcomed the news but some questioned whether the new law would be enforced. “While commendable, I doubt if this will be enforced,” one person wrote referring to the lack of enforcement of the law that bans smoking in closed public spaces.

Malta was the second EU state to introduce an indoor smoking ban, in April 2004, but there is a widespread perception that the ban is disregarded by many bar and nightclub patrons.

This perception was strengthened by The Sunday Times journalists who witnessed and photographed people smoking in bars in the presence of police officers.

A recent study showed that, in contrast to other countries, Malta’s smoking ban has not led to any decrease in hospital admission or mortality rates due to heart disease. The study attributed the disappointing findings to lax enforcement.

Dr Said stressed that the government was committed to improve safety in playgrounds and this included ensuring that children were not exposed to an unhealthy environment.

He said that officials from the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority had completed the inspection of the 159 playgrounds that fell under the responsibility of local councils.

Site visits started in April and inspectors drew up detailed reports, which they handed to the respective councils. A total of 31 playgrounds, including two in Gozo, were ordered to shut down because they were deemed too dangerous.

These include the Mtarfa playground and the one in Victoria. Planning permits have been issued to start rebuilding the playgrounds.

Mtarfa mayor Anthony Mifsud said the old playground, which was now fenced off, had been built when the British forces were in Malta.

The area would be gutted and rebuilt and the playground was expected to be opened in a year’s time. The project would cost €800,000 and would be funded by the government with the Local Council Department funding the equipment and the Rural Affairs Ministry paying for the labour.

The council paid tendering and planning application costs.

Dr Said added that the authority would be carrying out annual inspections on all playgrounds and the local council would be checking them daily.

During the annual inspections, officials will ensure that the criteria for playgrounds’ safety, listed in a national standards document, are adhered to. Standards include the need for fencing, safely-designed benches and safe equipment.