BIRMINGHAM'S Lord Mayor has ignited a heated debate after council bureaucrats banned him from smoking his pipe on the Council House steps.
Councillor Mike Nangle has branded the restriction - imposed as part of a drive to make the building and its surrounds a smoke free zone - “an infringement of civil liberties”.
Up until now he has regularly frequented the council house steps to smoke his pipe.
As well as providing a break from his busy schedule it is also an opportunity for him to meet the public.
But now he has been ordered to call a halt to it as it has attracted criticism from some quarters.
Cigarette smokers have followed his lead, with cigarette ends scattered around the front of the building.
Councillor Nangle said he is determined defy the ban and keep on smoking. He said: “I’ve only been a councillor for over 20 years and I was suffering from an obviously naive idea that we made policy, not officials.”
“And I resent the way my civil liberties are being whittled away not only by the local council, but the Government and the European Union as well.”
“It is getting to the stage where I will have to ask permission to leave my house.”
An anti-smoking crack-down started last year when ashtrays were removed from Council House corridors and it was announced it would become a non-smoking building.
Smokers were moved outside into a courtyard or the Council House steps. But now these, too, are being declared out of bounds.
A council spokesman said: “We are not anti-smoker and recognise our responsibilities towards members of staff who smoke as well as a duty of care towards non-smokers who have a right to a healthy environment.”
Cabinet personnel chief Councillor Alan Rudge said a “common sense” policy was going out to consultation. One of the aims of the policy would be to move smoking from the main and public entrances to the council building.