A by-law created in Coventry over 50 years ago is set to be scrapped after the Area Health Authority appealed to the council to allow condoms to be vended in the streets.

Coventry Council’s Economic Affairs Committee met to discuss the matter and has now decided to request that the government overturn the by-law.

Committee chairman Bob Waugh admitted that he felt the rule was old fashioned and needed updating.

He said:

"The by-law was created in a time when contraceptives were probably seen as offensive but clearly people are becoming more aware, and that is not the case any more.

"The request to alter the by-law came to us through the Health and Social Care Policy Team, who had been in discussion with Dr Peter Barker at the Coventry Area Health Authority.

"We have now decided to ask the government to overturn that law as we believe it belongs in the past, which was when it was created."

And the councillor believes that a lifting of the by-law will not mean that machines start springing up all over the streets.

He said:

"I don’t anticipate them being sold on the side of buildings and that kind of thing, I think the idea is that they will be put in public places, I know that the bus station is being considered as a site.

"I know people will make a fuss about it but it is not a ground breaking scheme, similar things have happened in Nuneaton and Stoke-on-Trent.

"Attitudes are changing and health issues are becoming more important to people, Coventry has got a high rate of teenage pregnancies and that is one of the things that the Coventry Area Health Authority were concerned about."