BUDGET supermarket Lidl has applied to officially extend the trading hours at its Weymouth store after an investigation found it has been breaching its permitted opening times for around 10 years.

The application is requesting for the store on Dorchester Road to be open later on weekdays and accept deliveries for a longer period every day.

The new opening hours would be from 8am to 10pm Monday to Saturday and 10am to 4pm on Sundays and bank holidays.

Currently, the store is only permitted to open from 9am to 8pm on weekdays, from 8am to 6pm on Saturdays and from 11am to 5pm on Sundays, however an investigation found it has been operating outside of these hours for several years “without complaint.”

An enforcement officer was informed of the breach and brought it to the attention of Weymouth and Portland Borough Council, according to a letter written by letting agent RPS on behalf of Lidl, which claimed that “reverting to the permitted hours would seriously impact on the store.”

In the letter, the agent writes: “This state of affairs appears to have come about through Lidl’s operational side of the business not realising that the restrictions had been included on the planning permission.

“Having investigated it is apparent that…the longer trading hours and earlier deliveries are required in order for the store to trade effectively.”

Currently, deliveries to the store are only permitted to take place between 8am and 6pm Monday to Saturday, but the store wants this to change to a 6am to 6pm time slot and to permit deliveries from 6am to 3pm on Sundays and bank holidays.

The agent said: “The permitted hours in the condition are in fact wholly inadequate to service the store effectively, not least the total prohibition of any deliveries on Sundays…I do not believe this is reasonable or justified.

“Lidl have never received any noise complaints about their trading operations or deliveries. The issue therefore appears to be solely the principle of the breach of conditions.”

WPBC will now consider the application.