Local Authority
Guidance Note
Background
Out-of-hours deliveries to retail premises, comprising quiet deliveries at night-time and also during
the ‘shoulders’ of the day (i.e. prior to opening, after closing), away from peak periods, can potentially
offer significant environmental and social benefits.
Moving delivery activity out of peak periods removes HGVs from congested locations and can help
reduce vehicle emissions and lead to improvements in both local air quality and local road safety.
Doing so, in turn, lessens daytime disturbance and allows quiet deliveries to become the norm.
From a logistics and retailing perspective, out-of-hours deliveries make sound operational sense.
However, out-of-hours deliveries may also have an impact on local residents and local communities.
Noise from vehicle manoeuvring and loading/unloading activity can impact on local residents,
particularly at times of day when ambient noise levels are low. HGV movements in urban areas are
therefore often constrained during night-time and/or weekend periods by local curfew regulations put
in place to avoid noise impacts. These include delivery curfew restrictions imposed by planning
conditions, noise abatement notices or local agreements between retailers and the local
authority/local residents.
If they wish these regulations to be relaxed, retailers need to be able to demonstrate that any out-ofhours delivery activity will be undertaken in a way which minimises disturbance and disruption to
local residents, while continuing to meet the operational needs of the business.
The operational and commercial benefits to be derived from deliveries undertaken outside of peak
periods can include:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Reduced round trip journey times
Reduced vehicle turnaround times at stores
Reduced fuel consumption from less time spent stationary, idling in congestion
Improved shift productivity from drivers and vehicles
Increased product availability within store
Less conflict between deliveries and customers on the shop floor
The Quiet Deliveries Demonstration Scheme (QDDS)
The Department for Transport has now established a consortium, in partnership with the Freight
Transport Association and the Noise Abatement Society, in order to investigate and promote the
potential environmental, social and operational benefits from relaxation of delivery curfews for quiet
deliveries.
The consortium will oversee the Quiet Deliveries Demonstration Scheme (QDDS). The QDDS will run
for 15 months until March 2011, and will involve setting up, running and reporting on quiet delivery
demonstration trials at six retail premises across England. The trials will involve relaxation of
restrictions at these selected retail sites for a specific time period, during which quiet deliveries will be
permitted and closely monitored.
The Scheme is being managed by freight specialists at transport consultants, Transport & Travel
Research Ltd (TTR).
QDDS Trials
A total of six trial sites will be chosen. Local trial working groups will be set up, involving the retailer
and the relevant local authority. TTR will act as the trial facilitator. The local working group will
oversee the local trial and agree working practices and necessary noise mitigation measures.
The Noise Abatement Society will carry out site assessments, offer recommendations on noise
mitigation measures and provide a noise complaint helpline for local residents. On-site noise
monitoring will be carried out by TRL Ltd.
Participation in the QDDS trials is free of charge, which means that the QDDS will meet the costs of
overall scheme management, independent monitoring of noise levels, the site assessments,
complaints helpline, quantification of benefits and production of case studies/guidance. However, the
QDDS will not contribute to the costs of any site, vehicle or other noise mitigation measures to be
used in the trials; these will be the responsibility of the retailers for the selected sites.
Local Authority Expressions of Interest
Local authorities, potentially willing to ‘host’ a trial within their area, are now invited to confirm their
interest in participating in the Scheme.
We are keen to have a good geographical spread of trial sites, across the English regions, and
therefore welcome expressions of interest from all English local authorities.
To submit an expression of interest, local authorities should email [email protected] with
contact details for the officer with whom further contact should be made. If you’d like to discuss the
Scheme further before submitting an expression of interest, please contact the QDDS Team on 0207
953 4069, who will be happy to help.
The deadline for receipt of expressions of interest from local authorities is 5pm on Thursday
25th February, 2010.