Garden Supplies (Sunday Trading) (Hansard, 7 July 1981)

§ Mr. Nicholas Lyell (Hemel Hempstead)

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to amend schedule 5 of the Shops Act 1950 to make lawful the sale of garden supplies on Sunday; and for connected purposes.

I am grateful for the opportunity to squeeze between the heavy matters of foreign affairs and defence one of the sillier nonsenses that afflict a more civilised aspect of our lives—that of gardening.

The object of my Bill is to make lawful the widespread trade in garden supplies and equipment which takes place every Sunday of the year at about 2,000 garden centres throughout the country. Gardening is probably the most popular hobby in this country. Millions of our citizens are gardeners and few hon. Members have not enjoyed gardening at some time.

However, since the garden centre boom has grown up almost entirely since the passing of the Shops Act 1950, which is the present law dealing with Sunday trading, the only garden supplies that can be lawfully traded on Sundays are flowers, fruit and vegetables. When hon. Members hear that that includes mushrooms but not tinned vegetables, they will realise that even that trade is lawful only by a sidewind and was intended for florists and greengrocers.

Selling almost everything else that gardeners flock to buy at garden centres every Sunday is unlawful. If one buys a trowel, a bag of peat, a can of insecticide, a ball of twine, a lawnmower, a plastic pot or a plastic gnome, the garden centre that sells it in England or Wales is breaking the law.

The situation would not be a matter of concern if nobody prosecuted, but that is not the case. The Independent Garden Centres Association recently conducted a survey of its many members and replies to date show that, although about three-quarters of local authorities are good enough to use their discretion and turn a blind eye to the technical offences that are being committed, 10 per cent. or 12 per cent. prosecute, often regularly, and about 15 per cent. are threatening to prosecute.

Fines range from £2, which may seem trivial, to £200 for a first offence and from £50 to £100 for every item sold in second and subsequent offences. One large garden centre in the South of England is threatened with closure on Sunday by injunction, because it is being prosecuted frequently.

The situation is nonsense. The small survey that produced those figures underestimates the problem. There are about 2,000 garden centres nationwide. Indeed, there may be even more. If hon. Members reflect on the numbers in their constituencies they will realise that the total rapidly builds up.

The 2,000 centres employ about 9,000 people full-time and even more part-time. The vast bulk of their trade is conducted on Saturdays and Sundays, by overwhelming public demand. Almost all garden centres open on Sundays, because that is when the gardeners of England and Wales wish to buy their supplies. Complaints are virtually negligible and usually involve parking or other such matters.

The problem can easily be resolved. It simply requires a small change to schedule 5 of the Shops Act to add 273 garden supplies to the list of other articles that are permitted to be sold. The second most popular hobby is going for a spin in the car, and motoring supplies can be sold lawfully on a Sunday.

Some people ask why it is right to tackle the problem of Sunday trading in garden centres separately from the wider issues of Sunday trading. The answer is simple. If all the shops in Oxford Street and our local high streets were open on a Sunday, that would be a radical change from the present position. but garden centres are open and trading, by huge popular demand, all over the country on Sundays. If we made a small change in the law we would not be introducing a fundamental alteration to our customs, but we would remove from jeopardy those who supply us with the goods that underlie the pleasure rightly enjoyed by so many millions on a Sunday.

There is no trade union objection to the Bill, as there is—for understandable reasons, whether one agrees with them or not—from USDAW and other unions in relation to shops in Oxford Street and local high streets. I cannot speak for the Lord's Day Observance Society, but it has not indicated that it opposes the hobby of Sunday gardening. As time is short, I shall desist from going into biblical matters, but there is the strongest authority in the Bible for suggesting that there is no more suitable hobby on a Sunday than gardening.

It is not only that it is absolute folly that our law should remain in this state for such a popular hobby, but it is thoroughly unjust to the garden centres that meet our needs that they should be put at risk of criminal prosecution so often. That is why I seek leave to introduce the Bill and, if time allows, to remedy the injustice once and for all.