Publicans, restaurateurs and hoteliers may well be quietly thanking their lucky stars over the smoking ban, which commences in England on 1 July 2007. They will no longer have to meet the cost of cleaning ashtrays, clearing up cigarette butts and the more frequent cleaning of soft furnishings that smoking necessitates. However, just to prove every silver lining comes with a cloud, new legislation will allow local councils to require licensees to be responsible for cleaning the pavements adjacent to their premises for up to 100 metres.

If the local authority sees the amount of litter as constituting a nuisance, it will be able to issue a ‘Street Litter Control Notice’ to compel licensees to clean the street near their premises. Cigarette butts are seen as a particular problem with some kinds of pavement.

As a first step, the provision of adequate numbers of suitable litter bins in areas used by smokers must be a sensible precaution.