Council admits failure to comply with equality duty over Spearmint Rhino licence

Sheffield City Council has formally acknowledged that it failed to comply with the public sector equality duty when making a decision last year to grant a new sexual entertainment venue licence to Spearmint Rhino.

The court statement was made as part of a settlement of a judicial review challenge brought over a decision taken in May 2016. A hearing was due to be hold on 9 and 10 May.

Spearmint Rhino’s application for renewal of its licence last year attracted a large number of objections.

The council failed to make reference to the PSED in its determination notice or minutes. According to campaign website Zero Option, concerns raised about the impact of such venues on gender equality were dismissed as “moral objections.”

It highlighted observations made by Mrs Justice Jefford in the permission order allowing the judicial review to go ahead.

The judge said: “There is no direct evidence that the Defendant [Sheffield City Council] has had due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty (as it is required to do under s.149 of the Equality Act 2010). The decision gives no indication that it has been considered…..

“Further, there is a tenable basis for the Claimant’s inference that the Defendant has wrongly ignored objections based on the potential impact on gender equality, treating them as moral objections and irrelevant.”

The claimant was represented by Louise Whitfield of law firm Deighton Pierce Glynn and Karon Monaghan QC of Matrix Chambers.

Whitfield said: “This is an important victory for my client and many others who are very concerned about the harmful impact of sex entertainment venues on women. The council now accepts that they were wrong to ignore the concerns raised about the sexual objectification of women, and to dismiss these as ‘moral objections’.

“It is now clear that a local authority considering any such licence applications must look long and hard at the adverse impact on gender equality of letting such an enterprise exist at all. Otherwise it will be acting unlawfully and will be subject to legal challenge.”

A spokesperson for Sheffield City Council said: “It must be stressed that this settlement has no bearing on the current licence for Spearmint Rhino, which was granted last month.

“The granting of this latest licence came after a lengthy meeting at the Town Hall, which followed due process and gave the applicant and objectors ample time to have their say. We thank everyone who took the time to address that meeting, and would commend them for the informed, considered and, in many cases passionate, way they presented their arguments.

“This settlement relates to the granting of a previous licence for Spearmint Rhino, in 2016. We acknowledge that things could and should have been done differently then. This is why we offered to settle the claim out of court, thus avoiding a trial and, therefore, potentially huge costs to Sheffield council tax payers.”