Ludlow Aldi is delivering at 7am on Sundays in flagrant breach of its planning permission

At the end of October, I wrote about a planning application from Ludlow Aldi. On Sundays and bank holidays, it is permitted deliveries for six hours from 8am and 4pm. It wants these hours more than doubled to allow deliveries between 7am to 10pm. What the planning application doesn’t say is that Aldi is already receiving deliveries in Ludlow at 7am on Sundays in a flagrant breach of its current permission.

Aldi is a multinational. This is not the first time it has broken planning rules. Clearly it doesn’t care domestic matters such as the law of the United Kingdom. That’s a shame because the Ludlow Aldi is a good store with hard working and cheerful staff. They, and the residents of Ludlow, are being let down by a supermarket giant that clearly only cares about its own convenience and profit margins when it comes to delivery times.

I was out walking Mel the Collie. An Aldi truck thundered along the A49 by the Co-op. I checked the time. 6.54am. We were nearing the end of our walk. Having given the dog and cat their breakfasts, I headed into town. The Aldi truck was unloading. It must have arrived before 7.10am travelling through residential areas including the narrow Gravel Hill.

A Müller delivery truck arrived at about 7.43am but that would not have breached planning permission as it could not begin delivering before 8.00am. But if the Aldi truck had not been occupying the loading bay, would Müller have offloaded earlier than 8.00am?

Aldi could have been honest and submitted a retrospective application. But that does not seem to be its style. In 2010, it was forced to submit a retrospective application to deliver at 8am after a complaint that it was delivering well before 10am.

Now it is breaking the rules again. I have had several people commenting that it is delivering earlier than allowed but today is the first time I have been able to get the evidence.

It is quite clear that Aldi have decided to disregard any planning restrictions and do what suits it best.

This retail giant seems to have no respect for the law or for Ludlow residents. That is a shame as it is a good store selling things that Ludlow residents need.