Supermarket chain Aldi has been granted permission to carry out 5.30am store deliveries in a quiet seaside town, despite being criticised for comparing birdsong to the sound of early morning deliveries.
The store produced a noise assessment report that revealed the sound of the dawn chorus at 5.30am next to its North Berwick store was louder than the noise made by a 7am delivery.
But at a meeting of East Lothian Council’s planning committee the argument was criticised by Christiane Maher from North Berwick Community Council who told councillors “they must feel birdsong at 5.30am creates the same nuisance as taking deliveries at the store.”
Aldi argued that the restriction should be lifted to allow them to deliver fresh produce to the store from 5.30am, bringing the North Berwick store in line with its other East Lothian branches.
Their noise assessment report acknowledged that birdsong and the dawn chorus was a “significant factor” in early morning noise at the site.
Ms Maher, who objected to the 5.30am deliveries on behalf of the community council told the committee: “I sympathise with Aldi’s problem but there is also concern about the health and wellbeing of residents.”
Paul Johnstone, from the supermarket giant, said North Berwick’s Aldi, which is next to residential streets, was “one of our lowest trading stores”.
He pointed to stores in Tranent, Musselburgh and Haddington which were allowed early bird deliveries saying that the restriction at North Berwick meant they could not link deliveries.
And he warned that the store in North Berwick was at risk if the situation continued.
Asked about the consequences of refusing to allow the condition banning deliveries between midnight and 7am to be changed to 5.30am, Mr Johnston said: “Will we shut the doors tomorrow? No we won’t.”
But, he added, the problem Aldi would face was that it would “struggle to financially manage that store.”
However ward councillor Jeremy Findlay told fellow committee member: “We are not here to promote Aldi, we are here to look after the concerns of our residents.”
Mr Johnston told the committee the “Aldi method” of delivery meant linking stores to ensure fresh produce was available to customers as quickly as possible.
He said when noise issues were raised at the Tranent store it was agreed drivers would turn off refrigeration and reverse sounds when making early morning deliveries to the site which resolved the issue.
But while he gave the committee assurances that would be the policy at North Berwick he stopped short of agreeing to it being a condition of planning approval.
Instead the committee agreed to ask Aldi for a noise management plan for the store with enforcement action available if they failed to stick to it.
And they approved the 5.30am delivery time for one year only with a call for it to be reviewed in six months to see whether it was working.
