WORKERS will be banned from lighting up in City of York Council buildings from October 1 after councillors agreed to a new smoke-free policy at the authority.

The council has opted to back a joint initiative between Selby and York Primary Care Trust (PCT) and the Evening Press and outlaw smoking from all of its buildings and in its vehicles.

Ken Green, the authority's head of human resources, told a personnel committee meeting last night there would be a three-month transitional period while workers were informed about the new employment rules.

He said the council expected to have the new policy "fully implemented" by January 1 next year. He also sought to allay union fears that smokers were being punished for their habit by stressing that the focus would be on encouraging workers.

That was enough for panel members Coun Keith Hyman and chairman Coun Martin Bartlett, who both said they had no objections to the new policy being approved.

The decision is a boost to the PCT and Evening Press Yes! To Clean Air campaign as, with 7,500 employees, the council is one of the city's biggest employers.

Mr Green said: "We are not intending to take a big stick approach to this. We are trying to get people to recognise that a smoke-free environment is healthier and something which is widely accepted. We are not looking to punish people but to give encouragement, advice and support." Mr Green said although Unison and GMB had objected on a local level, nationally the two unions supported the principle of smoke-free workplaces.

Coun Hyman said he was slightly concerned as to how the rules would be enforced in the council's residential accommodation but both he and Coun Bartlett said they were in favour of the ban.

Coun Bartlett said he was delighted that the council was arranging for the PCT to come into the authority's buildings to hold workshops as part of an effort to help workers get accustomed to the smoke-free zone and to give advice to those who wanted to quit.

The ban forbids smoking anywhere which is considered council property, including the Guildhall yard and in the immediate vicinity of authority buildings.

Updated: 10:12 Wednesday, September 07, 2005