Plans to extend the opening hours of a Greggs have been turned down after residents complained about early morning deliveries disturbing their sleep.
The small store attached to the Shell petrol station on Hyde Road, Mottram, was originally allowed to open between 6am-5pm from Monday to Saturday, and 6am-4pm on Sundays.
However, site owners Motor Fuel Group won a year-long order in August 2024 saying they could open an hour earlier and close an hour later each day.
Officials from Tameside Council (TMBC) refused their application to make this arrangement permanent, citing ‘harm’ to living conditions in nearby households.
Nicola Elsworth, TMBC’s strategic growth programme director, said in her report: “[I]t is noted that the area was subject to significant noise and disturbance in the early morning due to deliveries to the site in relation to the currently permitted operating hours.
“Associated noise emanating from deliveries and the 5am opening hours leading to increased comings and goings, would be considered unacceptable and create unacceptable noise levels for the residents adjacent to the site and would cause noise nuisance that would be unreasonable for the occupiers of the neighbouring residential properties.”
She went on to say that the council’s head of environmental services, Sharon Smith, did not think it would be possible to reduce noise for residents during the early hours if the store kept the same opening times.
Objections from locals included references to being woken ‘most nights’ by delivery lorries before 4am, lights from the garage shining throughout the night, and people urinating on the car park.
Although Ms Elsworth conceded that there would be a ‘small economic benefit’ to a permanent extension to the shop’s opening hours, she added: “The limited economic and environmental benefits that would accrue from the development would be significantly and demonstrably be outweighed by the harm on the negative impact on amenity for existing residents and highway safety concerns.”
