MARKET traders who launched a legal challenge against Barnsley Council’s ban on the sale of smoking materials have been forced to back down because of a lack of money.

Controversial plans to ban items such as cigarette papers, tips and lighters were revealed to traders last November in a letter from town centre services manager Anne Untisz.

The council wants to eradicate smoking from the town, and stopping the sale of smoking materials is part of an ‘ambitious plan to make Barnsley the home of the first smoke free market’.

Market traders launched a legal challenge and consulted a barrister about the plans, but have been forced to back down because they cannot afford a court battle. A spokesman for the National Market Traders Federation Barnsley Group said: “We’ve taken it as far as we can. We’ve taken it to a barrister who looked at the case and we would have had a 50/50 chance of winning. If we’d lost, it would have cost a lot of money.

“It boils down to how much money we have got. We don’t have enough funds to challenge it in court. It is a shame because I do think they are out of order, but sometimes you have to take advice from someone who knows better.

“We can’t take that chance. Putting two or three little market traders out of business is not going to alter things.

“If they were stopping everyone in the town centre from selling smoking materials then fine. But all people will do is go to places like pound shops and newsagents and get the same things.”

Coun Roy Miller said the ban would apply across The Glass Works, and there would be no businesses there selling smoking products.

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He said: “The council supports the market traders and independent retailers who are at the heart of Barnsley’s unique shopping experience both in the town centre and across the borough.

“We have provided a suitable amount of time for existing traders to phase out their current stock of smoking related products and to adapt their product lines so that they can continue to thrive.

“We have responded to the legal arguments put forward. We want families, especially children, to be able to enjoy our town and market area without smoking being present. As well as the benefits to health, we also hope to see a reduction in cigarette litter in the area, which looks unpleasant and is costly to clean up. We wholeheartedly believe that our policy serves the wider public in working towards a smoke-free generation by 2025.

“It is important that we take the lead on our smoke-free generation pledge.

“We have already introduced zones in the town centre, including in front of the market, and we were the first northern town to have an outdoor public space in its town centre that is a smoke-free zone.

“I’d like to encourage local people to get behind our fantastic market traders both in The Glass Works, town centre and across the borough.”