By Anna Whittaker, Local Democracy Reporter
Plans for Nottinghamshire to be smoke free by 2030 have been described as ‘wonderfully ambitious’ by a local councillor and GP.
In some areas of Nottinghamshire, up to 20 per cent of the population are smokers.
There is a new national push for people to give up smoking following the publication of a government-commissioned review which recommended a number of interventions to help England become smoke free by 2030.
Councillor Dr John Doddy, Chairman of the Health & Wellbeing Board at Nottinghamshire County Council, said the plans were “wonderfully ambitious” but “absolutely entirely achievable”.
Dr Doddy is also a GP at Hickings Lane Medical Centre in Stapleford, where he said he sees “first-hand the devastating impact that tobacco can have on a person’s health and wellbeing”.
The comments were made at the board’s meeting on June 15.
14 per cent of adults in Nottinghamshire smoke, which is above the current average for England (13.9 per cent).
This varies widely across the county rising to 19.8 per cent in Mansfield and 18.8 per cent in Ashfield with the lowest rate of 5.9 per cent in Rushcliffe.
In Ashfield 17.1 per cent of pregnant women smoke, and in Mansfield, that number rises to 19.2 per cent.
The plans aim to get to a point where less than 5 per cent of the population will smoke.
It is estimated to kill 1,124 people in Nottinghamshire and approximately 1,000 young people take up the habit in the county each year.
Cllr Doddy said: “People say is that an over ambitious thing but you have to be aware that at the present moment there are areas that are smoke free.
“If you look at Ashfield and Mansfield you may have smoking rates of 19 or 20 per cent but Rushcliffe has smoking rates just over five per cent.
“The government is going to plough £125m into smoking.
“There was also talk abut increasing the age that you can buy cigarettes every year by one year from the age of 18, so you can imagine that in five years time that it would be 23 by the time you can buy cigarettes.”
The smoking review’s recommendations are to increase the age that people can buy cigarettes, increased investment of an additional £125 million per year in smoke free 2030 policies and the promotion of vapes.
Council documents state that in September 2022, a Smoking Prevention programme will be rolled out to secondary schools in Nottinghamshire to help to stop young people from taking up smoking.
