Straight from city council A personal view, by Councillor Steve Morris

Last year the law governing whether shops can open on Easter Sunday changed. Now individual councils can decide on behalf of their communities whether trading is allowed.

From now until October 22 Tauranga City Council is asking for your views, with any changes to take effect from Easter next year. For clarity, this won't affect Good Friday on which shops must still close.

While Easter is important to me personally, I don't expect the rest of the community to give up their shopping should a majority still want to. Whether individual shops actually open on Easter Sunday or not is up to employers and employees because shop workers retain the right not to work and can take a personal grievance if they are compelled to.

My main concern is, regardless of protections under law, I'm sure there will still be pressure on some employees to work when they want to spend the day with family instead.

Of our neighbours, both Auckland and Hamilton have decided not to allow trading but Rotorua has.

You can have your say by emailing info@tauranga.govt.nz with the subject ‘Easter Trading Submission', picking up a submission form at one of our libraries or calling 07 577 7000 and we'll send one out to you.