Waitrose in Newbury bids to extend delivery window

Waitrose on Oxford Road in Newbury wants to increase its home delivery times.

The store has also applied for planning permission to keep the lorries coming in at unrestricted hours for seven days a week.

It says the number of lorries won’t increase, but the flexible hours will help it manage the shelf stocking as well as the increase in demand for home deliveries.

It wants home deliveries from the site to be extended to between the hours of 6am and 11pm each day.

The rise of online shopping has meant that foodstore operators are having to adapt their business models to meet changing customer demands in order to remain attractive and compete with online competitors.

The proposal from Waitrose says: “To allow an unrestricted HGV delivery window at the Newbury store will enable Waitrose to respond to the increased demand for home delivery services, click and collect services, meet customer expectations and ensure the store remains fully stocked.

“The proposals can be achieved without detriment to neighbouring amenity or highway safety.”