The municipality of Breda is developing a smoke-free park. The Seeligpark, on the site of the former Seelig barracks, will open at the beginning of May and, according to the municipality, will then be the first smoke-free park in the Netherlands.
Pubs, sports fields, playgrounds, bus stops: the smoking ban is increasingly spreading across all kinds of public places. This is often accompanied by a lot of grumbling in the beginning, but after a while people get it, says health councilor Arjen van Drunen of Breda, also the initiator of the smoke-free park.
“First you hear: is that necessary, shouldn’t I know that myself?” Van Drunen explains. “We also said that when it was no longer allowed in the café. Then we all said that when it came to play areas. But everyone now thinks it’s normal there.”
Always one step further
Many people now see smoke-free as hospitable, says Van Drunen. He expects that this will also happen in a public place outdoors. So Breda always goes one step further. “You always want to change the social norm,” he says.
Last year, all bus stops in Breda became smoke-free and he notices that there is increasing support for this: “In time, people will understand that someone else is also waiting at that bus stop. They may be bothered by it.”
‘Don’t immediately chase a boa’
There will be signs in the new park stating that smoking is not allowed. Van Drunen has seen that this is well observed in other places. “It’s not like a boa will immediately come after you if you smoke,” he says.
Breda first wants to see for a year whether people adhere to the smoking ban and what the effects are. The councilor does not yet know whether more parks will follow.
