Row over 'heavy handed' smoking ban

The government is giving local authorities nearly £30m to fund wardens who will enforce the public smoking ban when it comes into force.

Council officers will be able to issue on-the-spot fines of up to £50 in bars, restaurants and shops. 

Business owners are liable for fines up to £2,500 if they do not enforce the new ban.

Using street wardens is a possible option if local police are under pressure. 

A spokesman for Westminster City Council said that a "small proportion of the time of our environmental health officers will be spent on smoking education and enforcement".

"We estimate this to be equivalent to the full time work of two officers," he added. "Those working on this legislation will combine their time on implementing legislation with normal duties and inspections of bars, clubs and restaurants."

Shadow local government minister Eric Pickles said there was "a need for some form of enforcement against flagrant breaches by commercial premises".

"Yet these proposed heavy-handed surveillance and zealous inspections look like a wholly disproportionate response – a municipal sledgehammer to crack a nut," he warned.

"People want their council tax to be used to clean the streets, collect their rubbish and keep the streets safe. They don't want it spent on bankrolling a town hall Taliban."

Simon Clark, director of smokers lobby group Forest, said the scheme would be a "complete waste of public money."

"The idea of getting public officials to snoop on people is distasteful and disproportionate," he said.

A spokesman for the British Beer and Pub Association said the plan was 'heavy handed and elaborate".