Opposition to Asda plans to increase store delivery hours

OPPOSITION is mounting to plans by supermarket chain Asda to increase the hours in which deliveries can be made at its store in Yeovil.

The company has applied to South Somerset District Council for planning permission to allow its delivery lorries to come and go from the store in Preston Road from 5am to midnight from Mondays to Saturdays and from 7am to 10pm on Sundays and Bank Holidays.

The existing agreement allows Asda to have deliveries between 6am to 10pm on Mondays to Saturdays and 8am to 8pm on Sundays and none on Bank Holidays.

Members of Brympton Parish Council last week said they felt that the current weekday arrangement of 16 hours per day was long enough.

Cllr Paul Taylor said: “They are able to make deliveries for 16 hours a day already – I don’t know what the problem is with that.”

He said he had read letters of objection from people living near to the site who fear that the extra hours will cause even more disturbance for them.

Brympton Parish Council last week recommended that the application be refused permission on the grounds that there would be a “serious loss of residential amenity and a significant potential for nuisance, including noise nuisance during the night.”

Asda stands just outside the Brympton parish boundary, but members of Yeovil Town Council’s planning committee will be meeting tonight (Monday, December 2, 2013) to discuss the application.

Asda’s principal planner, Kate Gapper, has said that the extra hours are needed to keep the store fully stocked at all times.

“The existing delivery restriction leads to lack of customer choice and waste,” she said. “Allowing Asda to accept deliveries from 5am on Monday to Saturday will bring more customer benefits as food can be on the shelves before the store starts getting busy at 7.30am.

“Receiving deliveries when the store is at its busiest leads to conflict between staff stocking shelves and customers.”

She added that the number of deliveries would not increase as a result of allowing the extra hours.

A final decision on the application will be made by South Somerset District Council and is not expected until early next year.

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