Nicotine-based vapes should be made prescription only, a councillor has suggested. Redcar and Cleveland councillor Ceri Cawley said she had a “huge concern” about children vaping and it was on the increase.

However figures presented to a meeting of the Tees Valley Joint Health Scrutiny committee said vaping among children aged between 11 and 17 years old had actually fallen in the past three years. John Stephenson, from Public Health South Tees, said the habit had though become more visible in public and “more acceptable”.

He said the organisation’s message was that it was an effective tool for adults to quit regular tobacco smoking, since it has been proven to be much less harmful, but it was not an alternative for people who had never smoked.

Dormanstown ward Cllr Cawley said: “We

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