BUSINESS leaders have welcomed potential powers to overhaul how long shops can stay open on a Sunday – with an air of caution.

Famed for its boutique outlets and independent retailers, Brighton and Hove’s leading lights in commerce are mindful of a plan in the recent government Budget to consult on devolving Sunday trading decisions to local councils and mayors.

Chancellor George Osborne said last week he wants to remove the Sunday limitations to encourage economic growth but others say doing so could hurt smaller retailers.

Gavin Stewart, executive director of Brighton and Hove Economic Partnership, is broadly in support of the proposal.

He told The Argus: “Traders are in the business of selling. Opening up the opportunity to do that more will certainly, to some, seem like a long-awaited proverbial albatross being removed.”

Mr Stewart said there were issues around work-life balance and the cost of longer staffing hours, especially factoring in Mr Osborne’s new Living Wage.

He added: “The difference now is that there is the potential for a business to choose to stay open longer if it wishes and it’s that freedom of choice which may well be most positively received.”

Current laws allow smaller shops to open all day but restrict those over 280sqm (3,000sqft) to six hours of trading, between 10am and 6pm in England and Wales.

Soozie Campbell, chairman of the Brighton and Hove Tourism Alliance, warned of taking the advantage away from independent shops that fall under the square-footage bracket.

She said: “It’s good to devolve power but Brighton and Hove would need to think very carefully about how to wield that power.

“We have a high percentage of independent shops and [Sunday hours are] one of the few advantages they have. It would be unfair to lose this. Independent retail is one of the city’s key attractions so we need to protect it.”

Mr Osborne argues there is a “growing appetite” for shopping on a Sunday.

Warren Morgan, the leader of Brighton and Hove City Council, said businesses should have the interests of their staff at heart and he hoped any extension of hours would create jobs.