“the increase in vaping among children … is a major concern”
A ‘smoke-free alliance’ is on the cards for Shropshire as councils and health organisations look to use new powers to persuade children not to start vaping and adults to quit.
Telford & Wrekin Council spent £466,000 in 2024/25 on smoking cessation services and an additional Government grant of £274,000 is being given this year to cut the number of people smoking, a meeting was told.
Officials want to see more adults fixing a date for quitting smoking after hearing that the number of quitters in Telford and Wrekin has dropped from more than 1,000 to less than 300 in the last 10 years.
Health officials say this could be because adults have taken up vaping as a step towards giving up cigarettes but stopped there.
Helen Onions, the director of public health at Telford & Wrekin Council, told a meeting that she is proposing setting up a Smoke Free Alliance. Her first public health annual report includes the tagline “Towards a Smoke Free Future”.
She told the Telford Health & Wellbeing Board on Thursday (September 18) that the alliance would be a partnership of councils, health bodies, the police and voluntary groups. Alliances in Greater Manchester and Sheffield have seen a decline in smoking, she added.
The director said she was in discussions with the NHS and Shropshire’s public health director, Rachel Robinson, to see whether the alliance would cover just Telford and Wrekin or be one for Shropshire as a whole.
Mrs Onions said: “We need to do more to engage, we need more quitters to set a quit date.”
Ex-smoker Councillor Kelly Middleton (Labour, Woodside) is the cabinet member for public health and healthier communities.
She said: “The difference you do feel in your health and your pocket is huge.
“I think it is really important and we need a definite focus on young people.”
Councillor Andy Burford (Labour, Dawley & Aqueduct), the committee co-chair, said: “We’re talking about absolutely key work.”
He said he was surprised to see that the cost of smoking to the economy and health of Telford and Wrekin estimated by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) at a staggering £171 million per year.
Mrs Onions’ report says that “vaping is much less harmful than smoking and can help to people quit, but the increase in vaping among children and young people who have never smoked is a major concern”.
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is proposing banning smoking for anyone born on or after January 1, 2009, to stop legal sales of tobacco to future generations.
It is also proposing powers to establish a licensing regime for the retail sale of tobacco, vapes, and nicotine products.
Smoking could also be banned in outdoor settings where children and vulnerable people are present, including playgrounds, schools and hospital grounds.
The report says that an estimated 21,580 adults are smokers in Telford and Wrekin and rates are three times higher in the most deprived areas.
Every year around 360 children start smoking and more than 1,900 young people in Telford and Wrekin aged 11-17 years are estimated to have experimented with vaping in 2023.
In terms of regular vapers, the estimate is 600 of the 11-17-year-olds in Telford and Wrekin vape every day, a rise from fewer than 100 regular vapers in 2014.
