Bayside City Council will move to ban smoking at all of Bayside’s valued beaches, including Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary, Dendy Street beach and the Brighton Dunes.
Council shares the community’s concern that cigarette butts are the most common form of litter and can end up in the bay, and even the stomachs of fish, birds, sea turtles and other marine creatures.
As custodians of the Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary and the magnificent Bayside foreshore, we have a duty of care to do all we can to protect these valuable natural assets.
We have recently taken a strong stance on reducing single-use plastics in Council facilities and this smoking ban is another example of Council’s commitment to protecting and enhancing our natural environment.
To implement the ban, Council must follow an administrative process to include our beaches in Council’s Local Law No 2, to declare these municipal places as smoke-free. This process will take approximately 12 months.
This initiative will mean that there will be no smoking allowed at Melbourne’s beaches, stretching from Altona to Beaumaris.
