Agenda item

Report of the Executive Director of Place

(Note: Councillor Ruane, a Henley Ward Councillor and the petition organiser have been invited to the meeting for the consideration of this item. Representatives of the University Hospital have also been invited in for the consideration of this item.)

The Cabinet Member considered a report of the Executive Director of Place which provided an update in response to a petition regarding smoking in Hall Lane.

The petition bearing 322 was submitted to the City Council on 7 July 2015 and outlined residents’ concerns in relation to customers and employees from the University Hospital, Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust at Walsgrave, smoking in the street and generally causing a nuisance with noise and litter.

They requested that the Council make Hall Lane a smoke free street and that the Hospital take responsibility for the results of their no smoking policy.

The Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities considered an initial report on 24 September 2015 and deferred any formal decision and gave the hospital an opportunity to determine how they proposed to reduce or eliminate the adverse effect of smokers gathering in Hall Lane (Minute 15 refers). It was noted that the majority of smokers were hospital employees.

The Council could potentially introduce a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to prohibit smoking in Hall Lane; contravening the PSPO would result in the issuing of a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) and prosecution in the event of non-payment, however, this was viewed as inappropriate for the following reasons:

·  The area covered by the PSPO – for a PSPO to be effective, it would have to surround the hospital and be sufficiently large enough so as not to just displace the problem.

·  Potential to criminalise local people – a PSPO is non-specific and would also apply to local residents and their visitors too. This means that residents (and their visitors) living within the designated area of the PSPO would be committing an offence if they were to smoke in the street.

·  Unlikely to be popular – if a PSPO was to be introduced, an extensive consultation exercise would have to be undertaken and it is believed that a substantial number of local people would object and view this action as disproportionate.

The problems experienced by local residents in Hall Lane began when the hospital’s smoking policy was changed to prohibit smoking on the entire site. As the majority of the problem resulted from hospital staff, it was considered that any potential long term solution lay with the hospital.

Councillor Ruane, a Henley Ward Councillor and the petition organiser attended the meeting and spoke in respect of their objections. Councillor Ruane expressed disappointment that no progress had been made in resolving the problem. He stated that the problem was envisaged even before the smoking ban was introduced when he met with the hospital in 2014 in an attempt to highlight the problem and hopefully get the hospital to put measures in place to avert the problem.

Furthermore, he requested that the hospital reconsider their no smoking policy so that staff and patients could smoke somewhere on site as the total ban had just displaced the problem onto residents. Consequently this had created an unfair burden on the City Council and public money was being spent on dealing with a problem created by the hospital.

 The petition organiser attended the meeting and stated that the problem had continued through the winter months with no sign of easing. Staff had been spotted smoking behind the main gates on site and yet nothing appears to have been done. Residents believe that the area on site behind the hospital could be designated as a smoking area or have a shelter erected. It was generally felt that the hospital showed a lot of sympathy, but took no action.

Representatives from UHCW attended the meeting and reported that their smoking ban was working well however, once staff moved off site, they had no jurisdiction to discipline them. The hospital has a full time dedicated team who patrol the site and staff caught smoking were disciplined. The hospital stated that creating a shelter on site would be in direct conflict with their policy and would be seen as encouraging staff to smoke. It was reported that a number of staff had been disciplined and figures would be provided to Councillor Ruane for information. The hospital submitted a letter in response to the Cabinet Member meeting held on 24 September 2015 which outlined measures implemented by the hospital. The representatives agreed to report the discussions of this meeting to their Executive Board.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure, Sports and Parks:

1.  Considered the response received from, University Hospital, Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust and requests that the petition be passed to them so that they might work with local residents to achieve a mutually convenient solution.

2.  Requests that Neighbourhood Enforcement Officers routinely patrol and enforce any littering caused by smokers specifically in Hall Lane.

(Note: The original copy of the petition was handed to the hospital representatives at the meeting.)