Senior town councilors in the small Buckinghamshire town of Stony Stratford are considering pushing through a proposal that would ban smoking in public and on city streets, which would make Stony Stratford the first town in the United Kingdom to put in place a municipal smoking ban.

A campaign, which is being lead by Paul Bartlett, a Member of the Stony Stratford Town Council, has been running over the past few months to pressure the town council to pass a bylaw to outlaw smoking. If the ban is approved by the town council, it would mean that smoking in public would lead to on-the-spot fines.

According to Mr. Barlett, "Stony Stratford is a historic town which is blighted by cigarette butts. The plan that I am trying to put forward is for smoking to be banned in public in the High Street, surrounding streets, and preferably elsewhere as well”.

The idea is expected to be discussed at a town council meeting next month before the ban is enacted. If the idea does become a bylaw, it would be up to Police Community Support Officers, traffic wardens, and member of the public to enforce it.

However, there has been a large amount of resistance to the idea by smokers and pub-owners, who believe that banning smoking outside of bars will severely harm business.