Plans have been lodged for a supermarket in Abergavenny to make its covid delivery hours permanent.

Aldi Stores on Monmouth Road has planning permission for deliveries to be made between 7am and 10pm from Monday to Saturday.

However, the coronavirus pandemic led the Welsh Government to temporarily lift “delivery hour curfews imposed on food store operators since March 2020 through directed non-enforcement of planning conditions”.

This allowed Aldi to be more flexible with the timing of its deliveries and now they want to make it permanent. 

The planning application has come in “response to demand for greater operational flexibility in the delivery hours at the store to meet the needs of customers and thus restocking shelves in a safe and efficient manner”.

It also gives them the flexibility to “avoid traffic and congestion”.

Under the plans there would be no changes to the Sunday delivery hours of 7am to 10pm but Monday to Saturday would see the delivery time frame expanded by two hours.

If approved, delieveries could take place between 5am and 10pm.

However, an objection has been raised by a nearby resident over the potential noise impact of deliveries in the early hours of the morning. 

The letter to the council says: “The volume of traffic and resulting noise caused by trapping going to the industrial estate has increased and is now virtually non-stop between the hours of 6am to 10pm.

“To expand this window of delivery times would cause undue disturbance to myself, my immediate neighbour and to a lesser degree, those neighbours on the upper floors.

“Sleeping patterns would be disturbed, windows would have to be shut and air circulation would be compromised.”

However, an environmental noise assessment was conducted during the pandemic where the changes were allowed on a temporary basis.

The assessment found the noise level was “not considered to be intrusive”.

It is anticipated that the deliveries within the extended hours would not be additional delieveries to the store, but existing deliveries spread out over a longer period.

It says: “Since the lifting of delivery curfews, Aldi has regularly been taking deliveries from 5am during the pandemic period. 

“It is understood that no noise complaints have been received by the store in relation to delivery activity.”

The application will be determined by Monmouthshire County Council in the coming months.