City of Albany Councillors have voted to apply to the WA Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety to progress a change to Albany’s retail trading hours.
Following a robust period of community consultation, many Councillors were convinced that the majority of Albany’s community would like to see longer trading hours for general retail stores, the Council said in a statement.
More than 11,000 residents took the City’s Retail Trading Hours survey last month which resulted in an average of 80% in favour and 20% opposed to Sunday Trading and Weeknight Trading.
Similar results were found in the surveys of businesses, youth, and community groups across the municipality, showing little variation from demographic to demographic.
The period of consultation with the community attracted higher than expected submissions to the survey, which indicates to the City that the time was right for the community to have their say, said Mayor, Greg Stocks.
“Our community had a strong and loud voice about retail trading hours throughout our community consultation period which provided the Council with comprehensive data to make a decision,” the Mayor said.
“We are committed to ensuring these changes reflect the desires of our community and will work diligently to implement them in a way that benefits everyone.
“I sincerely thank everyone who participated in the consultation process and look forward to seeing the positive impact this decision will have on our community.”
The Council says it will now apply to the Department with evidence of community support for a change to Albany’s retail trading hours.
Should this be approved, the changes will come into effect in February 2025, following the usual period of extended trading across the festive season from December to January 2024/25, Council said.
