A NEW convenience store at Portishead’s marina is causing controversy among residents living nearby.

Deliveries to the new Morrisons M Local store outside agreed hours in 18 tonne lorries, garish signs and workers parking their cars in narrow and already congested streets are just some of the issues residents have complained about.

Neighbour Annabel Kew said: “When we first learnt that Morrison’s were coming to the marina many local residents were disappointed. When we bought our properties on the marina we were sold a picture of the commercial units being businesses in keeping with the marina such as a chandlery, maybe a deli and a few nice restaurants, but this has not happened.”

More than 60 objections were received when Morrisons applied for planning permission for their signage.

Mrs Kew added: “We were all totally gobsmacked that such horrendous gaudy signage was going to be put up in an otherwise beautiful location. All the other venues near the marina have classy and tasteful signs.”

After a campaign by residents, Morrisons agreed to replace one of the side window signs with an image of Portishead, but many residents are upset the other yellow and green signs went ahead and that the store is flouting agreements.

Sandra Dennis, who lives close to the M Local said: “As if the signage isn’t a bad enough issue, I am regularly woken up at 6.15am with the delivery of newspapers and last night a lorry made a delivery at 9.20pm, which is after the allowed delivery times of between 8am at 8pm.”

Laura Stubbs, a spokesperson for Morrisons, says many of the problems experienced were teething problems which have now been sorted out.

She said: “We had some early issues with deliveries which have now been resolved and are sorry for the inconvenience this caused. Since opening, we’ve had really positive feedback from customers but understand some residents have strong feelings about the window graphics. We’ve tried to reach a compromise by using a picture of the marina in a window and also a fruit image, which highlights our commitment to fresh food.”