IBVTA Launches LVA Partnership

Local Vape Action (LVA) is a partnership approach to tackling vaping issues at a local level. It brings together local authority partners as well as the vape sector via the Independent British Vape Trade Association (IBVTA), to identify and target specific areas.

LVA is beginning with a pilot in Tunbridge Wells as identified by local authority partners in Kent. There are more than 80 reported retailers of vapes in the town, therefore, as part of the project retailers will receive visits from trading standards to check that they are meeting their statutory obligations, utilising targeted guidance, which includes age-verification policies, in-store signage and retailer awareness of compliant vape products. This will be followed by subsequent visits as appropriate. 

Further interventions are planned throughout the campaign. The results of this pilot and other planned pilot phases will inform the ongoing development of a national LVA that is set to launch in 2025, that will provide support to local LVA projects across the UK.

LVA’s primary purpose is to support the development of effective local strategies, ensure that vapes are only used and accessed by adults in local communities, with a particular emphasis on preventing underage vaping and increasing retail compliance.

LVA’s mission is achieved via a partnership approach embracing Education (of all vape retailers), Engagement (of the local community), Enforcement (linked to Challenge 25 policy and preventing proxy purchase) and Evaluation (of LVA projects).

The national LVA that will be formally launched in 2025 will identify local needs, facilitate the assembly of the local LVA partnership, offer start-up funding and expert advice, provides a toolkit of interventions, share best practice gathered across the national LVA network and supply a rigorous evaluation system.

Each local LVA scheme or project will devise an action plan that is uniquely tailored to local needs with the overarching aims of protecting children and young people from accessing vapes and increasing compliance particularly among retailers.

Commenting on the launch of the LVA pilot, Clair Bell, Kent County Council Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services, said: “Kent Trading Standards has been aware of the growing popularity of disposable vapes and has been working with Kent Public Health to reduce the risk of sales to children in the county and to remove illegal and non-compliant product from our high streets. We welcome the opportunity to work alongside responsible retailers and the Independent British Vape Trade Association (IBVTA) with the introduction of the pilot project ‘Local Vape Action’ in Tunbridge Wells. The LVA project will allow all partners in the sector to come together to increase awareness of legal products and who to sell them to.

“This is a positive additional step to the work we are already doing and will contribute to raising compliance and creating a level playing field. From the work conducted by our Vape Team, we are aware that disposable vapes are sold in a very diverse range of retail premises. This means that for some retailers a disposable vape is the first age related product that they have stocked, this can lead to confusion and mistakes being made. Disposable vapes have also changed dramatically in the last 12 months; it is not as simple as it once was to spot a legal device.” 

Councillor Astra Birch, Tunbridge Wells Borough Council Cabinet Member for Housing & Communities, said: “Aside from the health benefits that will come from a better understanding around the use and sale of vapes, there are huge sustainability issues with single use plastic and the batteries they contain. I hope to see a broader roll-out of the programme following a successful pilot project here in Tunbridge Wells.”

The CEO of the IBVTA, Gillian Golden commented: “The launch of the Local Vape Action (LVA) pilot in Tunbridge Wells provides an excellent opportunity to bring collective knowledge and expertise together to deliver on a comprehensive programme of action to tackle the well-documented issues that undermine a responsible vape sector. We are therefore delighted to be working with partners from across Kent in delivering this first pilot project and take those learnings forward into the development of the national LVA.”

References:

• Local Vape Action - www.localvapeaction.co.uk

Photo Credit:

• Photo by Boukaih on Unsplash

Dave Cross

Journalist at POTV

View Articles

Dave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.