Partners in the Fresh Air project celebrate its success.
Towards a Smokefree Christchurch The Fresh Air Project is a collaboration between the Cancer Society and Canterbury District Health Board who, with the support of the Christchurch City Council, ran a summer pilot to stub out smoking in outdoor areas in a number of cafes in the city. Eighteen Christchurch cafes took up the challenge of becoming totally smokefree hospitality venues. All 18 continue to be smokefree and the results from customer feedback confirm that they have made a wise choice, both for their customers and for their businesses. Here’s how that evidence stacks up – of the 18 venues:
4 12 14 3
reported an increase in customer numbers reported a decrease in the number of complaints about others smoking recorded more positive customer comments said more people were using the outdoor area.
12 | Spring 2017
Liz Chesterman, Chief Executive of the Cancer Society Canterbury and West Coast division says the Cancer Society was heartened by the overwhelmingly positive response to the summer pilot. “The results of this project show that New Zealand’s goal of being smokefree by 2025 is achievable. We believe this is the beginning of a groundswell movement towards smokefree communities everywhere.” With smoking still the leading cause of preventable death in New Zealand,
the results show there is an appetite among Kiwis to embrace more smokefree environments. “The next step for the Fresh Air project is to encourage more venues to join the Fresh Air movement, by painting a picture for people and businesses of what a smokefree city will look like. How awesome would it be for Canterbury and for New Zealand if Christchurch got there first!” freshairproject.org.nz/ ■
A video has been produced to let you hear from some of the café owners themselves as well as featuring endorsements from Glenn Livingstone of Christchurch City Council, and Peter Townsend, who until recently was longstanding Chief Executive of the Canterbury Employers Chamber of Commerce. Copy this link into your browser to watch the video: freshairproject.org.nz/join-the-movement/