Cllr Catherine Fookes was delighted that her motion to control the sale of vapes to children was passed unanimously by MCC last week. She commented:

“I was delighted that there was cross party support for much stronger regulation of vapes and a crack-down on them being advertised and marketed to young people – their use by children has doubled in the last year which is a big health issue and single use vapes also cause a huge litter and environmental problem.”

She continued: “Unfortunately many children who start with vapes – which contain nicotine – then move on to smoking cigarettes. Shops should not be placing vapes next to toys, sweets or crayons and they should be sold in plain packaging. I am so glad councillors of all political parties agree with me that we must do something about this.”

Catherine is running a campaign to get the law changed and asks that anyone that sees shops in the local area marketing vapes to children should email photos and the name of the shop to [email protected]

So far the campaign has meant that Morrison’s in Wyesham has removed the advertising and Cllr Fookes will be contacting the A449 services at Raglan to ask that they move their displays.

The motion passed at Monmouthshire County Council, noted ‘with concern’ the increased use of vaping products by children in the UK with the associated risk of addiction to nicotine based products and the increased burden on local authorities taking enforcement action against the illegal sale of vaping products to children, as well as the environmental impact of single-use vapes which end up littering our public spaces.

MCC has now called on the Leader, Councillor Maryy Anne Brocklesby to write to the UK government to express Council’s demand for the greater regulation of vaping products including:

· Vaping products to be in plain packaging and kept out of sight behind the counter

· Mandatory age-of-sale signage on vaping products (as this is currently voluntary)

· A ban on free samples of vaping products being given out to people of any age

· A ban on single use vapes