Lap dancing clubs to stop being licensed like Cafes

Open Letter by Leading Local Authority Representatives Calls for Tougher Lap Dance Licensing Reform

Today leading local authority representatives sent an open letter to peers and the press supporting OBJECT and Fawcett's calls for lap dancing licensing reform to be compulsory with no frequency-based exemption.

The text is repeated below:

Today members of the House of Lords vote on whether to guarantee all
local communities a greater say in the licensing of lap dancing events
in their areas. Since the Licensing Act 2003 came in to force, lap
dancing clubs have been licensed in the same way as cafes and
restaurants. As a result the number of clubs has doubled to 300 and
residents and local authorities have been powerless to stop the spread.

Following a two year campaign led by the Fawcett Society and OBJECT,
reforms to lap dancing club licensing have been included in the
Policing and Crime Bill, now in its final stage in the Lords. But the
reforms are too weak: they are optional for local authorities and
exempt venues hosting lap dancing less than 11 times a year. We
believe this will create a patchwork licensing landscape open to
exploitation by the lap dancing industry and will fail to guarantee
all local communities a greater say in lap dancing licensing
decisions. A market in lap dancing agencies is also likely to prosper
in light of a frequency-based exemption, and the safety of women
performing at infrequent lap dancing events in pubs and clubs will
likely be compromised by inadequate facilities. We as local
authorities would be powerless to impose licensing conditions to
protect against this.

The optional nature of licensing reforms and frequency-based exemption
will undermine our ability to regulate lap dancing clubs in our
communities, and must be removed from the Bill.

Signatories

Cllr Colin Cook, Chair, Licensing and Gambling Acts Committee, Oxford City Council

Cllr Chris Roberts, Leader, Greenwich London Borough Council

Jim Messenger, Licensing Manger, Carlisle City Council

Richard Langdon, Licensing Solicitor

Cllr Abjol Miah, Tower Hamlets London Borough Council