by Alex Claridge
aclaridge@thekmgroup.co.uk

Special breastfeeding areas for nursing mothers could soon become the norm in city centre businesses.

Councillors want to push businesses to provide adequate facilities for mothers or face being named in public as an organisations which does not.

Supporters of the scheme spoke out during the Canterbury Area Member Panel (CAMP) meeting on Monday night after they received an email from a mother who complained about facilities here.

New mother Louise Dancy, who wrote the email, said when she had asked to breastfeed at two Canterbury shops she was shown into a broom cupboard in one and into a darkened room with a plastic chair in the other.

Panel chairman Cllr Paula Vickers described Louise’s experiences “as absolutely horrific”.

Her fellow Lib Dem Cllr Alex Perkins said: “We should be working out how to solve this problem and naming and shaming those businesses which do not make it easy for us. There are incredible health benefits to breastfeeding. We could have a list on the Canterbury City Council website of where it’s good and clean to do it and a list where the companies have not bothered.
Let’s do this as a matter of urgency.”

Canterbury could follow the example of Leeds to become one of the first “breastfeeding friendly cities in the UK”, according to a report before CAMP members.

It could also follow the lead of the Gloucestershire Welcomes Breastfeeding scheme in which cafes, shops and other businesses register as being accommodating to nursing mothers.

They are then listed online and given a window sticker to display.

The panel decided to broadly support improved breastfeeding facilities in Canterbury.

It voted to: “Recommend to the executive that the council takes positive action to improve the facilities for nursing mother in public places.”

The issue will now come before a future meeting of the council’s ruling executive before anything concrete is decided.

See this week's Gazette for full report and reaction.