New plans have been drawn up to make Stoke-on-Trent 'smoke-free' within five years.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council's new tobacco control strategy aims to reduce smoking prevalence in the Potteries to five per cent by 2030, in line with a national target.

Current figures show that 13 per cent of adults in Stoke-on-Trent smoke, and on the current trajectory this is not expected to fall to five per cent – the prevalence level defined as 'smoke-free' – by 2034.

But public health officials believe it is important to retain the 'ambitious objective' of the 2030 deadline.

Members of Stoke-on-Trent's health and wellbeing board agreed to support the new strategy at their meeting on Thursday.

Under the strategy, stop smoking services will be targeted at high-prevalence groups such as people in manual occupations, those living in social housing, people with mental health conditions and pregnant women.

Director of public health Stephen Gunther told the board that reducing smoking prevalence would help tackle health inequalities in the city.

Latest figures show that 21 per cent of Stoke-on-Trent adults in routine and manual occupations currently smoke, while the rate is 35 per cent among the unemployed.

Director of public health, Stephen Gunther said 'smoking is a driver of inequalities across the city' (image via LDRS)

More than one in four social house tenants and nearly a third of Stoke-on-Trent residents with long-term mental health conditions are smokers.

And around one in ten Stoke-on-Trent mums smoke during pregnancy, which is higher than the regional and national rates.

Mr Gunther said: "Smoking is a driver of inequalities across the city. You can see that in the data in the huge variations in prevalence between different cohorts.

"We haven't had a strategy for a number of years now for various reasons.

"I'm sure members of the board will support the actions that you and your organisations can take to help reduce prevalence of smoking across our city, whether that's smoke-free sites at our hospitals through to de-normalising what is a very addictive habit."

The strategy will have four main strands: primary prevention to stop people taking up smoking, as well as reducing vaping among non-smokers; supporting smokers to quit, targeting high-prevalence groups as well as expanding access to stop smoking services; tackling illicit tobacco, including under-age sales; and the creation of smoke-free environments, to 'de-normalise and disrupt social pressures around smoking'.

Public health programme manager Vicki Yates said: "The ambition is to achieve a smoke-free status in Stoke-on-Trent by 2030 and that is in line with the national ambition.

"Smoke-free status is defined as a five per cent prevalence. Although this is a stretch for Stoke-on-Trent – we currently stand at 13 per cent – it is something we feel we should aim towards.

"Ten years ago our prevalence was 25 per cent, so it has fallen by quite a lot over that time."

Health and wellbeing board members agreed to support the strategy and receive further updates on its progress.

Ian Read, head of prevent and protect at Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service, said that reducing smoking rates in Stoke-on-Trent would also help reduce fire deaths.

He said: "As a service we would support anything that reduces the amount of smoking. Clearly there's a link between smoking and potentially dying in a fire ignited by cigarettes.

"We see at least one person each year die as a result of a smoking-related fire."