Ice cream vans to continue selling in Glasgow parks as council refuse to be 'fun police'

Ice cream vans will be able to continue selling in Glasgow parks despite a councillor’s concerns for children’s health, after licensing chiefs refused to be the “fun police”.

Cllr Ken Andrew, SNP, objected to applications from ice cream van firm Mr Cool to trade from stances in Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow Green and near Hogganfield Loch.

The Hillhead councillor was “uncomfortable” with plans for the van to sell “high sugar, high fat foods” near a “children’s play park and sports facilities” in Kelvingrove Park.

He claimed allowing an ice cream van to be situated near the skate park “sends the wrong message to our young children”.

“The very least we want to do for our young people is get them into good eating habits,” Cllr Andrew told the city’s licensing committee.

However, Cllr Alex Wilson, SNP, who chairs the committee, said: “This is basically down to whether we agree that children should be fed ice cream at the park.

“Do we become the fun police and not allow them to have a treat when they are skateboarding, running around, burning off calories galore and then having an ice cream?”

After hearing committee members support for ice cream vans in parks, Cllr Andrew joked: “I now feel like the childcatcher from ‘Chitty Chitty Bang bang’.”

Cllr Wilson retorted: “If you were the childcatcher from ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’, with your healthy options, I think they would stay out of your van.”

The committee agreed to grant six applications for street trader licences which allow the holders, who all work for Mr Cool, to sell from the three sites.

Andrew Hunter, the licensing lawyer representing the firm, said the council had determined the stances and held a tender process to find an operator.

“If you don’t licence it and you don’t regulate it, then you potentially have a free for all,” he added. “Members of the public who are out and about have the option to use it or not to use it.”

He said the company has been operating for over 25 years, including more than 12 years in Kelvingrove Park.

Mr Cool, which also sells slushy drinks and soft drinks, including zero sugar options, is “very much a traditional ice cream van”, Mr Hunter said, with ice cream supplied by Glasgow firm Crolla’s.

He agreed childhood obesity is an issue, but “targeting that on a single van in this particular location is perhaps unfair”.

Cllr Andrew said he wasn’t objecting to the company “having an ice cream stand somewhere in the park” but he was concerned about “its adjacency to the play park and the skateboard rink”.

“I think we do have an obesity crisis, we do have instances of teenagers now exhibiting type two diabetes, there is a problem here,” he added.

“I’m sure it’s a well-managed and a well-run business but I think at some point we have got to do something about this.”

Cllr Wilson said: “I think it’s a perfectly valid opinion about trying to get young people to eat healthier and good on you for doing that.

“We have to then decide whether we become the fun police or not.”