Published on Thursday, 29 February 2024 at 2:03:56 PM
Local residents will have their say on the future of retail trading in Albany when the City undertake a period of consultation to ask the community whether they support permanent extended trading.
The extended trading debate has divided the Albany community for several years with the first community consultation held in 2005 and the most recent in 2013 – both being rejected by community.
At Tuesday evening’s Ordinary Council Meeting, Elected Members voted unanimously to conduct a renewed period of community consultation with an online survey through local company, Catalyst.
The aim of the survey is to drive as many responses as possible, resulting in a robust response rate and increased community confidence in the result.
If the community consultation influences Council to support permanent extended trading hours, the City must apply to the Minister and prove that community consultation on the issue was undertaken.
This is why the survey is not a referendum, but a period of consultation which will strongly influence whether the Council apply to the Minister or not.
Mayor Stocks said it is important to reconnect with the community to understand whether time has changed their retail trading wishes for Albany.
“We need to consider factors like population increase, flexible work arrangements, lifestyle choices, and economic conditions, including the cost of living when it comes to how the community want to trade,” he said.
“The latest deregulated trading referendum was in 2013 when our population was 36,318 and today we have a population of 40,416.
“A considerable amount has transpired since 2013 and we are at a point where we need to go back to our community and understand if extended trading is something they support in 2024.”
If supported by community, extended trading hours will apply to general retail stores, categorised by having more than 6 owners, owners that operate more than 4 other retail stores, have more than 25 people working at one time and sells goods outside of those listed for a Special Retail store.
The community consultation survey aims to reach residents across April and May 2024 with the aim for the City to have an outcome for or against permanent extended trading by the middle of the year.
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