Romford Lidl deliveries keep us up at night, residents say

A woman whose home overlooks a Romford supermarket has claimed that late night deliveries to the store have continued to hamper her life.

Rhonda May, 64, who lives in Regarth Avenue, claimed Lidl in Atlanta Boulevard routinely gets deliveries from its lorries outside of the approved hours even after years of protest.

According to Rhonda, she has suffered from sleep deprivation as lorries often arrive late at night and early in the morning.

Her health, she said, has been impacted by it.

She added that she has collected complaint letters from other residents who have also been facing the issue. 

One of the letters shared with the Recorder accused lorry drivers of leaving their engines running and shouting to each other that wakes the resident up at night. 

It added: “The lorry drivers urinate up my fence, so it comes in my garden.”

Read More: Lidl loses Havering Council appeal over Rainham store plans

Lidl was granted planning permission that allowed deliveries between 7am to 10pm on Monday to Saturday, and 10am to 5pm on Sundays.

Rhonda said the alleged breach of these conditions takes place on Sundays, when she claimed lorries are seen coming in much later than 5pm.

She, and some of the other residents, have tried getting Havering Council to step in for years.

She said she was asked to maintain a diary of these incidents, as the council needed more evidence.

Even after videos and images of the lorries were sent to the council in the past, she said it has not taken firm action.

She added: “It’s still so noisy. They are still doing it and it is wrong.”

She has now turned to Councillor Jane Keane, of St Albans Ward, for help.

Cllr Keane told The Recorder that she is “shocked” that the issue has been allowed to go on.

She said: “This company gave assurances to our planning enforcement team that it would abide by the terms of its planning consent and stop making out of hours deliveries.”

A breach of condition notice, she added, was sent to the supermarket months ago to stop these deliveries.

She appealed to the residents of Regarth Avenue to send her evidence that this notice was again breached.

She said: “I think I now have that evidence and if Lidl thinks neighbours’ justified complaints will just fade away it is mistaken.”

A Lidl spokesperson said: “It’s always our aim to keep disruption to an absolute minimum whilst essential deliveries are made to our stores, and we would therefore like to sincerely apologise to residents for any disturbance caused.”

They added that it had not received complaints regarding the matter recently and encouraged residents to raise any concerns with them directly.

Havering Council did not respond to a request for comment.