St Albans supermarket fighting neighbours to extend delivery hours
Morrisons car park. Photo: DANNY LOO - Credit: Archant
A major city supermarket is fighting to extend its delivery hours against the wishes of its neighbours.
Last November St Albans district council (SADC) refused an application to allow delivery vans to turn up outside Morrisons on Hatfield Road half an hour later each evening.
This is because residents living near the store rallied together to argue 7am to 10.30pm delivery hours would be too disruptive while they were trying to sleep.
A nearby resident objected to the proposal: “The noise already generated by Morrisons delivery lorries is significant, lorries frequently sit with their engines running on Ashley Road, causing noise and air pollution, blocking traffic and causing danger to other drivers who have to pull out around them, the reversing alarms then also cause significant noise as the lorries move around the site.
“This noise pollution is not acceptable in a predominantly residential area, families and individuals living local to the Morrisons service deserve some hours of quiet in the morning and evenings.”
Similar requests were refused in 2006 and 2015 because they would also have a detrimental impact on the neighbours.
But Morrisons have lodged an appeal on the grounds that council officers did not believe it would have a significant adverse affect.
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It says the shop struggles to get the shelves stocked each morning before customers arrive.
District Cllr Anthony Rowlands said he is opposed to the plans: “When planning permission was originally granted for a supermarket on this site, strict conditions were set limiting delivery hours in order to give local residents - some of whom live as close as 20 yards from the delivery entrance - an opportunity for peace and quiet at night.
“Morrisons knew that when they bought the store. They need to accept that reasonable limits should be placed on hours of operation. The store does not exist in a vacuum.”
The appeal said: “The officer’s report to committee recommended that the application be permitted following consultation comments from Environmental Health and a review of all material considerations, including an acoustic assessment that demonstrated the proposal would not give rise to significant adverse impacts on the occupants of neighbouring properties.”
See the plans at www.stalbans.gov.uk using reference 5/2017/1628.
