George Georgaklis, owner of Inside Out Cafe in Phillip Street, said there needed to be "clear definition'' about where people could or could not smoke.

"There needs to be a consistent policy and that is all can smoke [in outdoor dining areas] or all can't,'' Mr Georgaklis said.

The National Heart Foundation surveyed 43 metropolitan councils and found that Parramatta was one of the 19 councils which did not have policies banning smoking in certain outdoor public spaces such as children's playgrounds, playing fields or alfresco dining areas.

The NSW Government introduced the Smoke-free Environment Act 2000 in an effort to reduce the harmful health effects cigarette smoke on non-smokers.

Smoking has since been banned in most public spaces with a ban in hotels and clubs that came into effect on July 1, 2007.

Parramatta has been dragging the chain while councils such as Mosman and Manly, where there are also large numbers of restaurants with alfresco dining, developed policies on smoking in public places in 2004.

Parramatta Lord Mayor Paul Barber defended the council's failure so far to come up with a policy.

"Council has conducted research and community consultation on the very issue of outdoor smoking restrictions, with the aim of producing a report for the council to consider,'' Cr Barber said.

"An extensive survey has been completed with local businesses and community groups to gauge community attitudes to smoking in public spaces to feed into the report.

"Our survey also consulted the community on attitudes to restricting smoking in other outdoor recreation areas,'' he said.

"We welcome the Heart Foundation's report as it updates the intelligence we have already gathered and the close consultation we have had with a number of local governments, including Mosman and Manly councils.''

He said it was expected the report would be tabled at a council meeting soon.

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