Sheffield park ice cream vans have to cut diesel fumes to get new contracts

Sheffield City Council’s charity trustee sub-committee agreed this week that new contracts offered for ice cream van pitches in three city parks from next spring should contain a requirement that the vans are all electric or will use solar-powered refrigeration if they run on diesel.

To help firms recoup the extra investment involved, the contracts for Endcliffe, Graves and Weston parks will be extended from the current three years to five or seven years.

Council business manager Dave Rice told the meeting that the equipment required is very expensive for firms to buy. He said that when the contracts go out to tender, it will be a chance to test the market on what can be delivered and get feedback from contractors.

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Mr Rice said that installing power supplies that could be used by vans in parks has been ruled out as the costs were higher than expected.

The rules will also apply to a new contract for Millhouses Park, councillors heard, but that does not come under their remit. The sub-committee takes decisions related to parks and buildings that are owned by charitable trusts where the council is the sole trustee.

Coun Mike Chaplin said: “It will be welcome to parents and grandparents who bring children to parks to get rid of those fumes.”

The new policy is in line with the council’s commitment to reduce city and council emissions to net zero by 2030.