Chatham-Kent Council is preparing to accept sweeping changes to the municipal smoking bylaw.

The new law will prohibit the smoking and carrying of lit tobacco in all municipally owned and operated parks and recreation facilities, including sports fields and seating along with municipally owned beaches.

Councillor Derek Robertson is in favour of the changes. “I think that we’re doing the right thing. Ultimately to enforce a bylaw that will protect children in public is the right thing to do,” says Robertson. “It does not infringe on the rights of businesses or those who choose to smoke.”

The hope is to have the bylaw in place by the summer festival season. The finished bylaw will return to council on April 28.The Committee of the Whole approved the changes nearly unanimously.