Causeway Coast and Glens Council to decide if Coleraine and Ballymoney are 'holiday resorts'
Residents of Coleraine and Ballymoney will soon find out if they live in an officially designated ‘holiday resort’.
Causeway Coast and Glens Council are set to debate a request for holiday resort status for the two towns at a meeting of its Environmental Services committee on Tuesday, April 8.
In June 2024, Council received a request from supermarket retailer Lidl to consider designating Coleraine and Ballymoney as “holiday resorts” in order to avail of longer Sunday opening hours.
Article 6 of the Shops (Sunday Trading etc) (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 allows District Councils to designate any area within its district as a ‘holiday resort’.
In a designated ‘holiday resort’ area, large shops with a specified floor size can open at any time up to 18 Sundays (excluding Easter Sunday) between March 1 and September 30 each year. The designation exempts these large shops from the restricted Sunday trading hours of 1pm to 6pm on those 18 occasions.
Causeway Coast and Glens Council have previously designated Portrush, Portstewart and Ballycastle as ‘holidays resorts’ under the this legislation.
Following a public consulatation exercise on the issue, it is now up to members of the Council’s Environmental Services committee to make the decision.