Roads paved with cigarette butts as smoking ban affects rural England

Since July 1st, much of the country has been rejoicing at the introduction of a smoking ban in the UK. It is now against the law to smoke in any public building including pubs and restaurants. Now people can enjoy an evening out without fear of returning home stinking of cigarette smoke.

But has anyone stopped to think just how such a ban is effecting small rural communities in England and particularly the children who live there. Our quiet villages have already seen a change in character and for those who reside in the heart of these villages, this change is not a positive one. Noise levels, late into the evening, seven days a week, have increased dramatically with drinkers now spilling out onto our pavements so that they continue their smoking habit and very morning the pavements and roads are littered with cigarette ends.

Our children are now expected to pass through people drinking and smoking on the street just so that they can get to the local shop, breathing in smoke as they go. They are involuntarily listening to 'adult' language and conversation drifting through open windows whilst they try and sleep at night. What is this teaching our children? ...That drinking on our streets is acceptable?...That dropping litter on our streets is OK?

Our children need protecting from alcohol and smoke but now they are more subjected to it than ever. This may be a culture that our larger towns and cities have always been subjected to but not so our rural communities........at least not until the smoking ban was introduced.

Fiona Kennard
Hypnotherapist in Cheshire
http://www.headhighhypnotherapy.co.uk/stopsmoking.htm