Longer Sunday trading hours
THE UK Government has announced the launch of a new consultation that will examine the feasibility, benefits and drawbacks of a devolution of powers to set Sunday trading hours to local authorities.
Existing laws surrounding Sunday trading were introduced more than 20 years ago and Ministers are keen to examine any change in public attitudes which may have taken place since.
Increased local autonomy would see a slackening of the current restrictive hours of operation and while this would be a welcome move for some, it is something I, and many others, strongly oppose.
I can fully appreciate that there is growing competition for UK high streets from online traders and that it has been difficult for some businesses in recent years, but I am not convinced that extending Sunday trading hours is the solution to these challenges.
I know people lead busy lives, but larger shops are already open for six hours on a Sunday, and some small shops can open and trade for much longer.
I am not persuaded by arguments that extending Sunday opening hours will promote shopping in town centres. In fact, I think it more likely that any changes to the Sunday trading rules ules are more likely to encourage consumers to flockk to larger out-of-townwn centres, acceleratingg the decline on some high streets and creating even more difficulties for smaller independent retailers as they seek to compete with larger operators. The evidence of the past 20 0 years is that the previ- vious relaxation of Sun-unday trading rules didd not lead to increased spending, ending, it simply spread it out over the longer opening hours.
There are also concerns regarding the potential impact of longer Sunday opening hours on family and social life.
For many, Sundays provide a space for reflection and rest, and an opportunity for family and friends to come together and spend quality time together. These benefits would be eroded if Sunday were to be treated like any other day of the week by traders.t
TheT successful economiesec of other nations,n such as Germany, do not appear to be suffering from Sunday trading rules which are even more restrictiver than our own.ow
Polling from Februaryrua 2015 showed that 76% of the public supportsuppor existing Sunday trading a and don’t want to see any change - as the saying goes “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”