‘Terrible’ ice cream van sounds are too loud for parish councillor

Ice cream van sounds are far too loud according to one Telford councillor who objected to giving three would-be operators consent to trade in the borough.

Stirchley and Brookside Parish Council discussed street trading consent applications for two Dr Whippy vans and one SuperWhip and Desserts van at a meeting on Tuesday this week.

The parish council is one voice in a consultation exercise taking place across Telford & Wrekin Borough on such applications.

Councillor Greg Sinclair (Holmer Lake Ward) referred to “that terrible noise that the van makes when it goes around.

“Why do you have to have the thing making a noise on a Sunday, in fact any time because people live in the area they work shifts, they are ill, they don’t want an ice cream van.”

He feels so strongly about it that he has written directly to officers at Telford & Wrekin Council.

Parish council vice-chair Councillor Tammy Wood (Stirchley Ward) asked how people would know the vans are coming if they didn’t make a sound.

Councillor Sinclair said: “I can tell you a story going back 60 years or more when I was actually helping on ice cream vans and we did knock on the doors.

“The volume is so loud that I could hear a van arriving from Holmer Farm Road. I live a good 200 yards away and I could hear it indoors.

“By the time it got to the back of my house the decibel rate was far, far too high.”

The meeting at one point dissolved into fits of laughter and chairman Councillor Clare Lloyd (Brookside Ward) reminded her colleagues that it was a “council meeting and not a giggle show.”

Councillors were told that one of the applications was for a van to operate as late as 10pm which they thought was too late.

Councillor Sophia Vaughan-Hodkinson (Stirchley Ward) is a teacher and she said: “Children should be in bed by 10pm.”

And Councillor Tammy Wood (Stirchley Ward), the vice-chair, said she was comfortable with 7pm as a finish time, was “not uncomfortable” with 8pm but “10pm is too late.”

All three applications were accepted for operation from 10am to 7pm and that response will be sent in to the decision makers at Telford & Wrekin Council. Councillor Sinclair voted against all three.

Story by David Tooley – Local Democracy Reporter

Pic: Pixabay