healthy eating drive and ice-cream vans in park

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In London they must spend millions on healthy eating classes, leaflets, dieticians in playgroup etc. Quite sensible for our borough looking at statistics for all age groups.

The council then let ice-cream vans have pitches in parks. No other vehicles are allowed to drive in. I don't mind vans on a different gate, I'm aware they can park freely on the street, I can quickly walk past. However I'm fucked off that in all our major parks whichever part youre in you can see the a van. Over and over one of the kids notice it again after being distracted and it hangs over th e whole visit.

It seems crap that in the only place in walking distance where young children exercise easily (mainly flats, no gardens) they make such pressure to indulge in sugar. Obviously I say no, in fact I've stopped indulging them at all otherwise my toddler doesn't understand sometimes she can or can't. However everyone hates it because it so hard to avoid, it puts you off the park altogether. I presume they pay for the right to sell in the park.

Aibu to complain more officially, or a misery? It's ever present April to September about 10ft from the play area and all the parks have little pitches next to play areas for vans. Surely they could off set lost revenue against healthy diet info provision for families, only targeting high nee families?

Well, I didn't want to say anything, but I did compose an 'AIBU to think the lack of gravy RUINED my lunch' in my head...

If you really cared you'd make a cone from Yorkshire pudding

I have no problem with the vans, sometimes I say yes, sometimes no, kids are ok with that. I don't like ice cream so it doesn't bother me.

embedded I do think you have a point about double standards at the council - constantly nagging parents about healthy lifestyles while creating a whole new pitch for an ice cream van right next to the playground.

Perhaps the council foolishly assumes people have minds of their own and can make their own decisions?

An icecream van next to a playground could be a lifesaver you know. When my sister was little she walked into a swing which whacked her under the chin and she bit right through her tongue. Mum bought her an iced lolly from a handy nearby van to stem the bleeding!

ouch!

Councils IME often don't believe people have minds of their own. They are often terribly bossy. For instance, when the smoking ban came in, the health promotion team were insisting every shop put up stickers - including the petrol station. You couldn't make it up - FFS smoking has never been allowed in petrol stations, for obvious reasons!

Ours is very demanding - am only just recovering from their complicated demands with ridiculously tight timetable for proving we live here wrt ds's school place. We've only paid sodding council tax at the same address for 10 years but claim 'we don't have access to council tax records'. Yeah, right, if they were actually investigating they'd grab that information PDQ. And who was the bright spark who decided to write to every parent at the start of the Easter hols with a deadline of Maundy Thursday, demanding proofs including Child Benefit (which not everyone gets) or Child Tax Credit (which not everyone gets)?