Issue - decisions

The Committee received a report from the Licensing & Enforcement Manager which sought approval of the final Sex Establishment Licensing Policy attached as Appendix C to the report. The Committee then debated the Officer’s report.

The Committee made the following comments in response to the report:

     i.        In 2001, there had been a long debate about the initial policy. At that point there had been three establishments in the City, there was now only one remaining. There appeared to be little demand for this sort of venue locally.

    ii.        Suggested that the costs of the required consultation would be hard to justify when there was no demonstrable need for a nil policy.

   iii.        Expressed concerns that any selling of sexual activities increased the risk of violence towards women and girls.

  iv.        Suggested that there was a drop in demand for live events as the availability of pornography on the internet expanded.

   v.        Suggested that a nil policy might encourage venues to move to nearby villages which fell under South Cambs District Council regulations.

The Licensing & Enforcement Manager stated that a recent judgement (Court of Appeal v Peterborough [City of]) had ruled that a nil policy could not be applied to an entire city.

In response to Members’ questions the Licensing & Enforcement Manager said the following:

     i.        The estimated cost of a nil policy consultation had been based on the work of London Boroughs.

    ii.        Should a nil policy be introduced after a Licence had been granted, it would be difficult to revoke that Licence.

   iii.        All applications would be considered on their own merits.

  iv.        Infrequent events were not licensable activities and a nil policy would not apply to those events.

   v.        One off events such as stag or hen events or burlesque evenings would not be licensable as they fell into the infrequent events category and were covered by different legislative acts.

The Committee considered amending the Sex Establishment Licence conditions to remove references to Christian holidays. However, no representations had been received regarding this or any other religious holidays. Members acknowledged that any future application would be considered on its merits and that local communities would have the opportunity to raise such concerns at that point.

The Committee:

Resolved (unanimously)

     i.        Noted the results of the public consultation exercise as summarised as Appendix B of the Officer’s report.

    ii.        Approved the final Sex Establishment Licensing Policy attached as Appendix C to the Officer’s report having taken into consideration the comments contained in paragraphs 3.5 to 3.14 of the report and Appendix B.

3. Resolved that the policy should have immediate effect and should be reviewed at least every five years.