PEOPLE living near the new Aldi store in Taunton have accused the supermarket of being "underhand" over its attempts to remove an overnight-time restriction on deliveries to the site.

Neighbours say their sleep will be disrupted if Aldi is permitted to allow HGVs and other vehicles to drive onto the Chip Lane site and unload between 11pm and 6am.

The company, which opened the supermarket in October, says there will be little noise and nearby householders will not be impacted as it operates a 'quiet delivery scheme'.

Aldi submitted an application to Somerset Council over the festive period requesting permission for unrestricted delivery times - currently it can only deliver between 6am and 11pm six days a week and 8am to 6pm on Sundays.

READ MORE: First customers arrive at Aldi on its opening day.

One angry objector told he council: "Aldi are being underhand in submitting an application over Christmas and only allowing a short window to object - they know full well, at this time of year, this application could go under the radar."

The objector added: "We don't want overnight deliveries. This will impact on the bedrooms at the back of our house and in the summer we won't be able to have the back windows open at night...this will have an impact on our children's sleep."

Another neighbour said they were concerned at the possibility of "increased noise at night time with additional vehicles, large and small".

READ MORE: Bulldozers move onto site of planned Aldi store.

In its application to the council, an Aldi representative said lifting the current restriction would help "meet the needs of customers".

They added: "The proposals would allow restocking shelves in a safer and more efficient manner, and the flexibility to deliver outside of peak hours to avoid traffic congestion."

According to Aldi, there would be a maximum of two HGV deliveries a day and a number of smaller vehicles for locally sourced goods and early hours deliveries would enable staff to stack fresh produce on shelves ahead of the arrival of morning shoppers.

The Aldi representative added that unrestricted delivery times would not have "a significant impact in terms of noise and will not impact on nearby residents of the store".