Successful trial period results in Bayside beach smoking ban plan
It’s time to butt out at the beach as smoking is at last officially outlawed from Brighton to Beaumaris. Signs will be erected in coming days and a date has been set for the start of hefty fines – which aren’t just for cigarette lovers.
Inner South
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A smoking ban along Bayside’s foreshore is set to come into full force in coming weeks, with rangers handing out fines by the end of August.
Smokers will get a three-months grace period when officers will issue warnings and information before the large fines kick in.
It comes as Bayside Council pushes to clean up beaches in the area after a community driven initiative over a number of years.
Last year Marine Education Science and Community Centre spokeswoman Virginia Mosk told the Leader the organisation had collected over 15,000 cigarette butts in 2018 at the Ricketts Point area alone.
She said if those numbers were extrapolated to cover the whole area there would have been almost 100,000 cigarette butts dumped on beaches.
And the new ban won’t just include conventional cigarettes – vaping and e-cigarettes are also set to be stamped out.
The council will increase the number of bins located along the foreshore area and within foreshore carparks, just outside the no-smoking zones.
About 15 new bins will be installed, along with signage on walking paths and at entry points to the beach, on entry and surrounds of Rickets Point Marine Sanctuary, and around the Brighton Dunes.
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The council says the education period of three months will afford locals and visitors the opportunity to adapt to the new laws, but after that fines of $200 will be handed out for an infringement notice, and up to $1000 if a law-breaker is prosecuted in Court.
The initial implementation of the ban is set to cost ratepayers about $75,000, with an ongoing cost of about $22,000 per annum.
Cr Sonia Castelli told the Leader it was “great to have the ban” for the environment and the beaches.
Cr James Long said Bayside’s beaches were precious.
“The butts always end up in the wrong places and can live in the sand forever,” he said.
“You need to be cautious with people’s health as well, you don’t know if they have respiratory issues and it’s obviously not good for kids.”
Councillors will thrash out the final details of the ban at a meeting tonight.