Decision due on Easter Sunday trading

Councillors will decide whether to allow trading on Easter Sunday at a council meeting today. File photo.

Today is the day Tauranga City Council will decide whether or not to allow all shops in Tauranga to trade on Easter Sunday.

It's now up to councils and their communities to decide whether shops can open on Easter Sunday, and it's time to make a decision for Tauranga.

Council will consider the submissions to the draft Easter Sunday Shop Trading Policy, and hear from 12 submitters who asked to speak at the meeting. Deliberations and decision-making will follow.

Tauranga City Council gathered the community's views in several ways throughout the year to inform this upcoming decision: through an informal survey from May to August to gather initial thoughts, and a formal consultation process in September and October, complemented by a telephone survey for added robustness.

Council received 897 formal submissions, with 444 (49.5 per cent) supporting the adoption of a policy allowing trading on Easter Sunday across the whole city, and 453 (50.5 per cent) not supporting a policy.

The separate telephone survey of 401 residents showed 60 per cent support for Easter Sunday trading, 38 per cent opposition, and two per cent of people didn't know.

The telephone survey results align with those of the informal pre-consultation survey, where of 5736 responses, 49 per cent showed support for full unrestricted trading on Easter Sunday, 15 per cent supported trading in specific zones, and 36 per cent were against Easter Sunday trading.

Based on these combined results, the report going to Council for consideration recommends that the draft policy be adopted, so that shops across Tauranga be allowed to trade on Easter Sunday should they wish to.

More details on options and feedback collected through the submission process are included in the Council agenda available on Council's website.

The Council meeting (hearings, deliberations and decision-making) will take place from 1pm to 5pm on Thursday November 23 in Council Chambers, 91 Willow Street. All are welcome to attend.

If Council decides next week to adopt the proposed policy to allow trading on Easter Sunday:

  • This would apply to the entire city, including all suburbs (e.g. Papamoa, Mount Maunganui, Bethlehem, Greerton etc.);
  • Shops would only open if they wish to;
  • Employees would be entitled by law to refuse to work on Easter Sunday, without having to give a reason;
  • Easter Sunday is not a public holiday. This means employees choosing to work on Easter Sunday would receive normal pay, not time and a half or an alternate paid day off;
  • Good Friday would remain a public holiday with no trading;
  • This won't override liquor licensing provisions. If a venue cannot currently sell alcohol on Easter Sunday, the policy will not change that. Alcohol will continue to only be sold with a meal at restaurants and cafés;
  • The policy would take effect on January 1, 2018 meaning shops would be allowed to trade starting Easter 2018.

If Council decides NOT to adopt a policy:

  • The current rules will stand, with no trading allowed save for the few existing exceptions like dairies, service stations and restaurants.

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6 comments

Oh dear

Posted on 23-11-2017 07:43 | By fletch

surely people can do without shopping for ONE day. Let the staff have a day off with their families


agree fletch

Posted on 23-11-2017 09:13 | By Mein Fuhrer

give us all a break from the spend spend spend mentality, if the spendaholic consumer junkies need a fix I'm sure "shopping online" wont stop for Easter.


Why penalise me?

Posted on 23-11-2017 09:55 | By cssr

Fletch, I work Sundays, so to have Easter Sunday off I have to take annual leave. It is not a statutory day, so I don't get Stat Day Holiday pay. In theory my boss could ask me to work, doing cleaning or stocktakes etc. He's just not allowed to open the doors. The staff that work Easter Monday get all the Stat Day benefits. I get penalised because people like you fletch think the world still works on a 5 day 40 hour week. Get with the real world.


Let the public speak!

Posted on 23-11-2017 10:52 | By Christine1965

Why shouldn't I be able to shop if I choose? You can choose not to, but don't dictate to the obvious majority who wish to. We do live in a democracy last time I checked!


Consistency please

Posted on 23-11-2017 11:29 | By Kaimai

If shops are going to be shut, make it all shops/ retail sites. If shops in Tauranga are to be shut, shut the shops in nationwide.


Shocking business sense

Posted on 23-11-2017 13:55 | By Captain Sensible

How dare the TCC think they have the right to decide if a shop opens or not. TCC have already demonstrated that they and other councils who have amassed $billions and $billions of debt, are the ones with the worst business sense in NZ. TCC MYOB.


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