Schoolchildren from Salterforth are pleading with grown-ups not to smoke near council-owned playgrounds.

Pupils from Salterforth Primary School are among several students from across Pendle who have designed signs with hard-hitting anti-smoking messages to make smokers think twice about lighting up near Pendle play areas.

Through a project between Pendle Council, the Pendle Pupil Parliament and the Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust, schoolchildren said they wanted to design their own signs to be put up around play areas.

Salterforth and the ten other Pendle schools were invited to enter their designs into a competition late last year.

Three winning sign designs, chosen by the Pupil Parliament Committee and the council’s parks and recreation team, will be prominently displayed in Pendle’s 60-plus playgrounds and multi use games areas, asking people not to smoke there.

The children’s designs carry messages such as ‘Stop it! It’s harming me!’ and ‘Don’t smoke. It makes kids choke’. They appear on the signs along with the children’s colourful drawings.

Rachel Brennan, a teaching assistant responsible for Salterforth’s two Pupil Parliament representatives, said: “The voice of the children makes as much of an impact as a council sign would, if not more.”

Wendy Harvey, from the Pendle Pupils Parliament, said: “The members of the Pupil Parliament were delighted when their committee invited Kieron Roberts from Pendle Council to a meeting of the Parliament to debate issues regarding parks in their areas. His presentation stimulated their thinking and they put forward their ideas on how the parks could be improved.

“They were concerned about the number of people smoking in children’s play areas and suggested that they would like to help by designing posters to display in the parks.”

Peter Pendlebury, Lancashire Care’s NHS Foundation Trust tobacco control specialist, said: “Through this great scheme we hope to discourage young people from taking up smoking and protect them from starting something that could ultimately kill them.

“Most parents don’t want their children to smoke and want to take steps to protect them. This is part of the NHS campaign to make smoking history for children.”

Mrs Harvey said: “The Pendle Pupil Parliament is a very vibrant and thoughtful forum for young people to discuss current issues. It is very rewarding that the council has used their ideas in such a positive way to tackle an important local issue.”

Mrs Brennan added: “The Pupil Parliament has also tackled issues such as dog fouling, litter and safer parks. These are things they’ve chosen to work on. It’s all instigated by them. The adults take a back seat.”

For more information about smoke free playgrounds in Pendle, contact Mr Roberts on 01282 661587 or email kieron.roberts@ pendle.gov.uk.

If any private play area providers would like to sign up to the scheme, contact Mr Pendlebury on 01254 358043 or peter.pendlebury@ lancashirecare.nhs.uk.