Council refuses to designate Ballymoney and Coleraine as ‘holiday resorts’

Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council has refused a request to designate Ballymoney and Coleraine as holiday resorts.

Last year council received a request from supermarket retailer LIDL, asking that they consider designating the towns as holiday resorts in order to avail of longer Sunday opening hours, under Article 6 of the Shops (Sunday Trading etc) (Northern Ireland) Order 1997, which allows district councils to designate any area within its district as such.

An officer’ report, which was presented to this month’s Environmental Services Committee, noted in a designated holiday resort area, large shops may open at any time on up to 18 Sundays, excluding Easter Sunday, between March and September each year.

Council have previously designated Portrush, Portstewart and Ballycastle as holidays resorts under the legislation, and a similar request for businesses in Coleraine was unsuccessfully proposed in 2021.

“A consultation exercise was carried out to gather a broad range of views to inform council’s decision-making process,” the report said. Two responses were received in favour of the proposal, and while council received several responses in opposition.

The report added: “Responses opposing the proposal [included] fifteen responses from private individuals, a letter from Member of Parliament, [and a] joint letter of objection signed by [representatives from] Retail NI, the Union for retail workers, Causeway Chamber, Coleraine BID, and the Ballymoney Chamber.

“A Survey by council’s Town and Village manager [received] nine responses from Ballymoney Town Centre Forum; 78 percent opposed, 22 percent in favour; and ten responses received from Coleraine Town Team; 50 percent opposed, 50 percent in favour.”

Alliance Councillor Lee Kane said he proposed a public consultation when the item was presented to council in 2024, and he was “glad we did it”.

Councillor Kane said:

“Anybody who has been following the media will have seen that it has attracted quite a significant amount of coverage, albeit very tongue -in-cheek, about Ballymoney and Coleraine being holiday destinations.

“As I said back whenever this first came to council, it is a shame that this is the only legislation available to consider such a list.

“One of the comments from the consultation that really stuck out to me was [when] someone said that they had no objections to Sunday trading per se, but the notion of Coleraine and Ballymoney as a holiday resort was “frankly ridiculous”.

“I find the input from retail Retail NI, the Causeway Chamber, CEO BID, and the Ballymoney really helpful, and they’re more than welcome to work alongside council to deliver real and meaningful boost to the economy in Ballymoney and Coleraine.

“But holiday status isn’t the way to do that, and it would economically disadvantage smaller retail businesses.”