On the merits

Sex shop iStock 000001196715XSmall 146x219Leeds City Council has just granted the new breed of sexual entertainment venue licences to a number of lap dancing operators. Paddy Whur reports on the authority's approach.

I have just finished a long week of contested hearings in Leeds, representing five out of seven of the lap dancing bars; as they have been forced to apply for a new Sexual Entertainment Venue licence from the local authority due to changes in the legislation.

Leeds City Council has undertaken the widest of consultation exercises over the last year to 18 months, during which time they have invited public consultation on the issue and taken site visits to the venues as well as hearing representations from the trade and interested parties.

Having carried out the highest level of consultation the council finalised a policy and set of standard conditions for these premises, after again putting those documents out to public consultation. They also had a detailed report prepared by Dr. Teela Sanders from Leeds University after her team had spoken to many dancers and the operators of Leeds.

One option open under the legislation was for a nil policy which would have removed all of the operations from Leeds. Another option, was for the council to set a limit on the number of licences that they would approve i.e. setting a cap. A further option was for the authority to publish a policy in which certain areas where described as being unsuitable to have licences granted.

After this comprehensive consultation exercise Leeds City Council formed the view that it would not have a nil policy or a cap, nor give descriptions of areas where premises should not be licensed. Having accepted that removal of the licences from operators who had traded for up to 10 years without problems of regulation could bring up human rights issues, the authority settled on a policy of judging every application on its merits. It has been accepted that a licence is classed as a possession capable of protection under Article 1 of the First Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights. This clearly states that a person has a right to peaceful enjoyment of his possessions and the case of Tre Traktorer Aktiebolag v Sweden (1989) 13 EHRR classifies a licence as something capable of protection.

All of the seven applications received a high level of opposition from members of the public, Leeds Object, Councillors and MPs. These objections ranged from an absolute objection in principle to lap dancing bars, to site/operation specific issues. Having anticipated a number of the issues, we commissioned market research in Leeds and also instructed an expert specialist surveyor to examine the units' physical position; when set against the relevant regulatory regimes such as planning, licensing and Leeds 2030 Vision document.

The cases centred on analysing the objections set against the policy and standard conditions. The impact of the premises in their particular location was assessed and most importantly the policies and procedures for each club were very carefully analysed.

The licensing authority had set out in their policy that it would make decisions set against the back drop of The Provision of Services Regulations [S.I. 2009/2999]. Regulation 24(1) which imposes three important tests highlighting that any refusal must be:

  • Non discriminatory
  • Necessary
  • Proportionate

The Regulations serve as a useful reminder for decision makers in all licensing forums that they must not go beyond what is necessary. This is an important factor as it is clear that this means before refusing a licence, the authority should consider whether the imposition of conditions would satisfy concerns and be proportionate.

After a long week of contested hearings, and a lengthy period for the sub committee to analyse all of the information it had been given on all of the applications, we were pleased that all of our applications were granted with the standard conditions attached. It really vindicated the stance taken by the licensing authority in Leeds of consultation with all parties, visits to the premises and drafting of a well thought out policy and standard conditions.

Paddy Woods is a partner at Woods Whur. He can be contacted on 0113 234 3055 or by This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..