Easter opening hours back on agenda

Jean-Paul Gaston

Rotorua's council will make another concerted effort to bring Easter trading to the city after a survey revealed almost 80 per cent of residents were behind it.

Rotorua district councillors discussed the issue at a meeting of the council's Strategy, Policy and Finance Committee yesterday after the council commissioned Colmar Brunton to conduct a survey of Rotorua residents.

The online survey of 400 people cost $5675, and revealed that 79 per cent of Rotorua residents agreed that "shops and other hospitality or entertainment businesses should be able to trade on Good Friday and Easter Sunday if they want to".

Eighteen per cent of people surveyed said no to Easter trading and 3 per cent said "don't know".

Of those who said yes to Easter trading, 71 per cent said they would eat out at a cafe or restaurant during Easter, 63 per cent said they would go shopping, 50 per cent said they would visit a garden centre and 35 per cent said they would have a drink in a bar or pub.

Executive director Jean-Paul Gaston said the results highlighted the need for Rotorua to be treated the same way as other major visitor destinations that can trade during Easter such as Taupo and Queenstown.

"Pressure on Rotorua at Easter is likely to increase substantially from 2015 onwards as international events and domestic visits increase," Mr Gaston said.

All but one councillor voted to lobby the Government to have Rotorua included in Easter trading exemptions.

Councillors decided to "formally write to the Prime Minister and local MP Todd McClay asking that the issue of Easter trading in Rotorua be included in the carry over motion for Government".

Councillor Janet Wepa was the lone voice who spoke out against the proposal.

"I won't support this, I have never supported it.

"We have hardly any days where we cannot shop ... and it's not just about the true meaning of Easter, in which I believe.

"People feel pressured to go to work."

Mrs Wepa said those who took advantage of businesses being open for Easter were "people who prance around and don't want to cook their own meal".

Councillor Karen Hunt said it was time to get rid of the "archaic system" which was "a nonsense".

Deputy mayor Dave Donaldson said the law mystified visitors from overseas who find a top tourist destination essentially closed for Easter.

In April, Mr McClay and Mrs Chadwick said they would join forces to have Easter trading laws changed in Rotorua.

The former political adversaries said the law was frustrating and manifestly unfair to Rotorua retailers.

In the past 10 years both have tried to have the law changed and both have failed.

In 2003, Mrs Chadwick sponsored a local bill which was defeated by 63 votes to 55.

In 2007 her member's bill was rejected by 64 votes to 57.

Then in 2009, Mr McClay's Easter Sunday Local Choice Bill narrowly missed being passed by just two votes.