Greenwich park ice cream van sparks legal battle with council
Plans to prohibit ice cream vans from trading on a street next to Greenwich Park have prompted a local councillor to state that the local authority is not "anti-ice cream".Greenwich Council's cabinet has recommended that King William Walk be designated as a prohibited street for itinerant ice cream trading.It included the thoroughfare at the north-west corner of the park on a list of streets where the trade of ice cream is prohibited.However, ice cream van operator Paul St Hilaire Sr successfully challenged the decision in court on the basis that the council's decision was not legally sound.
Bromley Magistrates' Court ordered the council to re-run the public consultation process and review whether King William Walk should be included in the list of prohibited streets.The Local Democracy Reporting Service previously revealed through a Freedom of Information request that Greenwich Council spent £52,000 of public money on legal costs for the case.The council carried out their court-ordered consultation process earlier this year.At a council cabinet meeting on 9 April, it was revealed that out of the 25 organisations and residents that responded to the consultation, 16 were in favour of the prohibition and nine were against it.Councillor Pat Slattery, a ward councillor for Greenwich Park, which includes King William Walk, supported the prohibition proposal.She told the cabinet meeting: "I think it is important to say that the council is not anti-ice cream. "There are ice cream vendors in a reasonable spit of where this ice cream van regularly parks up."
'Not banning ice-creams'
At the cabinet meeting councillor Jackie Smith said the only grounds on which the council can prevent itinerant ice cream trading on any of its streets "is the interest in preventing the obstruction to traffic or undue interference or inconvenience to persons using the street". She added: "We have had lots of complaints from lots of residents of King William Walk in the past."Interim director of legal services Azuka Onuorah told the council that if the ban was challenged again, the prohibition remains in place pending the outcome of the challenge, which entitles the council to take enforcement action.Before the cabinet approved the decision to recommend the King William Walk prohibition to full council, the council leader Anthony Okereke said: "We are not banning ice creams in Greenwich in any way shape or form. "We do love an ice cream, actually."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
7 hours ago
- BBC News
Prison cells made permanent to ease 'crisis'
Sixty-six temporary prisoner cells in Surrey have been made permanent in an effort to "ease" a crisis facing the prison prison population has doubled in the past 30 years nationally, while only 500 new cells have been built in the past 14 years, reports the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS). The prison service is looking for short-term ways to increase capacity until four new prisons come online by 2031, creating 14,000 extra 66 cells at HMP Coldingley in Bisley were approved unanimously by Surrey Heath Borough Council on 6 June. There were no questions or debate from councillors during the two-minute item, according to the LDRS. The cells were installed during the COVID-19 pandemic to allow for safeguarding measures to be implemented.
BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
City of Lincoln Council plans to postpone recycling scheme
A city council plans to oppose a new policy requiring residents to separate paper and cardboard in their recycling.A report by City of Lincoln Council (CoLC) stated it wanted to defer the decision until 2027, stating that "many properties in Lincoln would struggle to accommodate an extra bin".Several districts in Lincolnshire have already adopted the twin recycling system in an attempt to reduce policy is part of the government's Simpler Recycling scheme, which is due to come into effect for all households in England from 31 March 2026. CoLC will discuss the proposal at a policy committee meeting later and is likely to reject it due to the cost and complexity of the change, according to the Local Democracy Reporting authority said an assessment was carried out in which there were "known issues relating to bins left out on streets" in the report stated: "Whilst some areas, particularly some of the areas served by 240L bins, could potentially accommodate a paper and card collection, there are good reasons not to do this at this time."It said there were a "range of other pressures on this service area" and introducing the paper and card collections at this time "would not be wise".The report also found Lincolnshire's contamination rates have "remained high" and suggested more efforts are made to help people recycle correctly in the city. Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
South Wales Argus
5 days ago
- South Wales Argus
Questions over council spending on Friars Walk Newport
The local authority negotiated a deal with the owners of Friars Walk in 2017 that would top up income if the centre was not collecting enough rent. Payments in each of the past six financial years have reached the maximum £500,000 – new figures seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service show. Cllr Matthew Evans, the leader of the Conservative opposition group, said he was 'absolutely staggered that the council has squandered over £3.56 million of local taxpayers' money on this'. A council spokesperson defended the deal and said the local authority would still benefit overall from the deal, even if the maximum £500,000 was paid out annually over the course of the 15-year deal. The council received £8 million when it signed the deal, and would be liable to pay a maximum of £7.5 million in top-ups, they explained. 'It is important to note that as well as the rental subsidy, the arrangement ensures that the council receives additional rent payments if the centre's profits exceed certain thresholds,' the spokesperson added. But Cllr Evans said the deal to top up low rents involved money which could be better spent on council services. 'Think how many additional social service staff could have been employed, or potholes fixed,' he said. 'I seem to recall when I questioned the decision taken by the cabinet at the time, I was told that it was merely 'an insurance policy' which would never be called on. 'Sadly the public have been picking up the tab for Labour's failure to regenerate the city centre. The reopening of the former Debenhams site is good news, but more needs to be done and fast.' A homeware store is reportedly set to open in part of the former Debenhams premises, which was described as the anchor tenant for the Friars Walk centre. Debenhams' high-street operations ceased in 2021 and the future of the large Newport site has been uncertain until the recent news of an incoming tenant. Michael Enea, a Conservative Party campaigner and political blogger, has urged the council to consider what he called 'huge' business rate charges for larger premises in the city centre. 'The former Debenhams site at £345,000 a year, the old Cineworld complex is £64,500 a year – these are astronomical figures,' he said. 'No wonder vast swathes of businesses have moved to out-of-town retail parks. We need a total review of business rates in Wales whereby it becomes an incentive to trade in our town and city centres. Something has to change.' The local authority spokesperson said Newport City Council is not responsible for setting business rates. 'We do, however, offer support for small and medium-sized city centre businesses through our local city centre rate relief scheme, which offers a discount of 25% on non-domestic rates for qualifying properties,' they explained. 'Very small businesses already receive rate relief through the Welsh Government's small business rate relief scheme. 'The Welsh Government also offers support for larger businesses through its retail, leisure and hospitality relief scheme, which offers a discount of 40 per cent on non- domestic rates, capped at £110,000 per business.'
