North Island’s Waikato District Council has adopted the Easter Trading Policy 2017, meaning all retail shops in the Waikato district will be able to open on Easter Sunday this year.

Whether a store opens or not is up to the business owner, with the policy adopted at yesterday’s council meeting.

The council said it carried out extensive community consultation to find out what people wanted and that during the consultation period, 1268 submissions were received with 51 per cent in favour of shops being able to open.

The majority opposed to the policy cited religious reasons; preserving our community culture; or to make sure workers had a break.

During the meeting, councillors acknowledged that the submissions were very evenly split.

The views of those opposing the policy were discussed in detail as well as the benefits of giving shop owners the choice to open.

It was determined that the policy will ensure that individual business owners can make their own choice as well as ensuring a consistent approach across the district.