While a council has banned new takeaways from opening at certain times near schools, one academy is welcoming Mr Whippy onto school property in the interests of road safety.

Swingate Primary School in Sultan Road, Lordswood, allows an ice cream van onto the playground.

Concerned bystander Mel Maher said it was “primary school madness in times when obesity in children is at its highest”.

The 70-year-old has grandchildren at the school and saw the van when he went to pick them up.

He added: “I couldn’t believe my eyes and I went to the office to make a complaint. My grandchildren have been told not to take crisps, fizzy drinks or chocolate in their lunchboxes, yet here the school is with an ice cream van. It’s not right.”

But the school, rated good by Ofsted, defended its actions as taking into consideration the safety of pupils.

On the school’s behalf, a Medway Council spokeswoman said: “The council is committed to promoting healthy eating for our children in Medway.

“In this instance, an ice cream van was parking on a regular basis near the Swingate Primary School site, resulting in children running across the road to the van after school, which presented a risk.

“The school has allowed the van access onto their site occasionally as a temporary measure while they resolve the immediate road safety risk to their pupils.”

Mr Maher added: “It’s a poor excuse when children are getting fatter, obesity it a bigger risk.”

In July last year the council agreed to measures which restrict new fast food outlets near primary or secondary schools in a bid to tackle the growing obesity problem.

The new rules state that hot food takeaways should not open between noon and 2pm within 400m of a secondary school, or between 3pm and 5pm within 400m of a primary or secondary school.

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