Tesco gets go-ahead for earlier Ludlow deliveries

Store bosses have submitted an application to Shropshire Council to amend the planning permission for its store in Corve Street so deliveries are allowed between the hours of 9am and 4pm.

Under the current rules, deliveries are not permitted to start until 10am.

Shropshire Council planning officers are recommending approval of the scheme subject to a number of conditions, including ordering all delivery drivers to drive in 'as quiet a manner as possible' and to avoid 'unnecessary engine revving'.

Officers have also stipulated that no radios or stereos are to be left on during deliveries, and that lorry reversing alarms should not be used before 10am on Sundays or Bank Holidays.

The council has received three individual letters of objection to the plans from residents in Corve Street and nearby Streatley Mews and Station Drive.

Ludlow Town Council has also objected to the scheme while Shropshire Council's public protection team has also expressed concerns.

The objections claim the application, if granted permission, would lead to an unacceptable level of noise early in the morning and impact on neighbours' quality of life.

One letter says: "The extension of delivery times would cause my neighbours and myself added disturbance, on top of the already noisy activities of Tesco deliveries.

"I fail to see that there is any need for the extension of these hours."

But in a report due to be submitted to the council's south planning committee, recommending approval, it reads: "It is considered that an extension of the delivery times by one hour on

Sundays and Bank Holidays would not result in any further detrimental impact from noise or disturbance to immediate neighbours."

A final decision will be made on the application by Shropshire Council's south planning committee when it meets next Tuesday.

It takes place at 2pm in the council chamber at Westgate in Bridgnorth and members of the public are welcome to attend.