Portsmouth City Council's pizza machine plan for Southsea criticised by GP

The council said the pizza project could help provide "quality food and drink on the seafront"

A council's plan to install a pizza vending machine in a seafront car park is "promoting the mindset that ultra-processed food is healthy", a GP said.

Portsmouth City Council has applied for planning permission for the machine in the D-Day Story car park in Southsea.

An authority spokesperson said it is part of efforts to provide "quality food and drink on the seafront".

But Southampton GP Karen Malone said it would only increase the "epidemic of obesity and poor metabolic health".

The authority said the "innovative idea" would use a machine by Chichester-based Pizza Rebellion, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

But Dr Malone said the council has a "responsibility to promote good health and not encourage/support bad ones".

Hampshire Constabulary's designing out crime officer Stuart York wrote in a submission to the city council's planning department that there would be "very little natural surveillance of the dispenser from the public highway".

He said it could attract people into the car park which would "increase the opportunities for crime and disorder".

The city council will make a decision on the application in due course.