An award-winning Rutland bakery is seeking to erect a canopy to help protect its customers from the wet and the cold.

Hambleton bakery at 2 Cottesmore Road, Exton, wants to construct the open glazed canopy along its shop front for queuing and click and collect customers.

The planning application to Rutland County Council said: "It is a response to the need to safeguard customers and staff alike and to allow the social distancing required by the Covid-19 regulations and guidance."

The Hambleton Bakery began 12 years ago and from small beginnings supplying locally, has steadily expanded to be one of the premier artisan bakeries in the country.

It is housed in previously redundant buildings on the edge of the Exton Estate and includes a small on-site shop.

The application continued: "From the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, throughout the lockdown and up to the present it has provided bread and other food products to customers.

"Social distancing measures have been introduced to protect staff and customers alike.

"The shop is quite small and access has been restricted to one customer at a time with all other customers queuing outside. This has worked well through the summer, but with the onset of the autumn and winter there is a need to offer them some protection from the weather.

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"It also allows the business to formalise its click and collect service with an area to protect the products."

"This is not a unique problem, but here it is possible to provide a solution without any adverse effect on the building, its setting, the wider landscape, or the amenity of any adjoining owner.

"This proposal is brought forward as a result of challenging times. They help to safeguard customers, to secure the future of the business and protect existing employment."

The application added: "The Hambleton Bakery continues to grow and expand its business and the workforce, but the new regulations and guidance introduced since the outbreak of the pandemic at the beginning of the year has required the introduction of new ways of working.

"The existing shop is small, but has been a very popular because of its location away from any town and any large gatherings of people. Of necessity access to the shop has been restricted to one customer at a time resulting in any queue being outside, albeit in the open air, where there is less likelihood of transmission. That regime will remain in place for the foreseeable future.

"The summer period has been relatively kind to the customers and they remain undeterred by the weather, but they need some form of protection with the onset of