The Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) set out its strong support for the Government's proposals to devolve power over Sunday trading rules, arguing that a relaxation of the rules would deliver significant economic benefits for garden centres and wider social benefits to families and hobby gardeners.
The HTA has long argued that garden centres should be allowed to open for more than six hours on a Sunday, and therefore welcomed this proposal that would take steps towards achieving this. Sundays are by far the busiest day of the week for garden centres, typically making 20-25% of weekly sales. The HTA estimates that Sunday trading restrictions in England and Wales currently cost the industry an estimated £75 million per annum in lost sales.

In its response to the consultation on Sunday trading, which closed on Wednesday, the HTA argued that it is vital that every community is given the freedom to choose whether to relax Sunday trading rules, saying that in most cases, a local debate on the issue is long overdue. It also set out the positive impact that any eventual relaxation of Sunday trading rules at the local level would have on its membership - the garden centres, growers, manufacturers and suppliers that currently account for more than 29,000 businesses and employ more than 280,000 workers.

The association believes that, allowing garden centres to trade for longer on a Sunday would enable members to make significant productivity gains and increase sales, boosting the competitiveness of an important sector which currently contributes £9 billion to the UK economy. It would particularly benefit the HTA's SME members - around 95% of its membership - which, it insists, will be able to compete on more of a level playing field against online retailers able to trade 24/7.

All of this will in turn provide a significant shot in the arm for the rural economy, says the HTA, as the majority of the association's garden centre members and the commercial growers that supply them are based in rural communities.

HTA chief executive Carol Paris commented: "Whilst we believe there is a strong case to be made for relaxing Sunday trading rules across the board, we believe that - in the case of garden centres - the argument is beyond doubt.

"We feel that our member businesses, most of which are SMEs, are unfairly hampered by trading restrictions, which customers don't understand anyway in this modern age of 24/7 online retail and Sunday is rapidly becoming the favourite shopping day.

"We urge the Government not to miss this golden opportunity to relax Sunday trading to the significant benefit of garden centres, their customers, staff and suppliers."