An angry ice cream seller has vowed to fight for the right to sell his wares on the streets of a Lake District town.

As reported in the Gazette, pavement ice cream vendor Paul Whitelaw is braving a frosty reception from members of Lakes Parish Council who want to stop him trading from his Ambleside pitch.

Mr Whitelaw, 43, trades under the name of George's Ice Creams and sells from a tricycle parked by the Market Cross, Ambleside, as well as from a patch in Grasmere. He pays no business rates for either site.

However, councillors want Mr Whitelaw and his tricycle to leave the area. They say that the former professional cyclist is in breach of Lake District National Park Authority planning laws by staying in his patch for more than 28 days, possibly constituting a material change of use.

Although LDNPA planning officers were aware Mr Whitelaw was trading from the site, they have deemed it not "expedient" to take enforcement action against him a response that was criticised by Lakes parish councillors.

But Mr Whitelaw, who has been trading in the area since Easter, charging 50p for an ice cream, says he will not be moved from his spot and claims he is providing a service for local people.

"At the end of the day the people who are complaining are the people who don't like change but if I had a pound for every time someone takes a picture of the tricycle I wouldn't have to sell another ice cream," he said.

Mr Whitelaw added: "We don't charge tourist prices, we charge local prices for local people. If people have three or four kids they haven't got the money to pay £1.20 an ice cream.

"I am very angry if they put a ban on my business, it will knock me for six. My business will go and people will lose their jobs. I will fight it all the way. I don't mind paying some kind of business rates for our site but I have been told that we don't have to pay anything."

But Lakes parish councillor Leslie Johnson was less convinced of Mr Whitelaw's right to stay and said that the vendor's low prices were making life difficult for other shopkeepers.

"It is a source of great irritation to the legitimate traders in the town; he is out cutting people trading in difficult economic circumstances," he said.

He added that the council would be trying to impose a by-law prohibiting any unauthorised trading in the town centre in the near future.