General – Standard Conditions, Sex Shops/Sex Cinemas
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Cornwall & IOS SARC Partnership Board (119)
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20 Oct 2010
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Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this consultation. I am writing on behalf of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) Partnership Board. The Board has representation from a range of partners including Third Sector organisations, Devon and Cornwall Police, Cornwall Council and the NHS.
The Board wishes to highlight the potential for increased risk of sexual violence to women as a direct result of an increase in sex establishments in the County. We wish to draw attention to the work of Dr Linda Papadopoulos who has researched causal links of sexual violence and refers to links with lap dancing clubs, the sexualisation, objectification, and the commodification of women. It is important to note that her findings have been supported by a further nine separate studies. She concluded “…With the ubiquity of sexualisation and the increasing pornification of society has come the mainstreaming of the sex industry, as exemplified by the proliferation of lap-dancing clubs. Sexualisation – and the commodification of women and girls – is now so ingrained in our culture that lap-dancing is widely viewed as acceptable, ‘making the harm of commercial sexual exploitation invisible’….” The Board is deeply concerned about the increased risk to women who work in the sex industry and to all women and young girls in Cornwall.
It has been suggested that there is a conflict in the Governments policy position (Violence against Women & Girls Strategy versus Legality of Sex establishments). The Board believes that the logical response to this conflict should be to take a robust view (as some other authorities have done) in restricting to an absolute minimum, the number of establishments’, their locations, hours of opening and activities.
There is a need to ensure that women and girls employed in these establishments (‘performers’) are able to make a free and informed choice, by building contractual requirements into the licences. The Board supports the recommendations made by Michelle Davies, Domestic Violence Coordinator for Cornwall and Isles of Scilly. These are - “…Performers must have the freedom and capacity to consensually enter into a contractual agreement with the ‘employers’. ‘Employers’ must ensure that ‘performers’ conform to hours stipulated under ‘Working hours regulations’ or in choosing to sign out of this, ‘performers’ must have the freedom and capacity to make an informed decision…”
We have seen reported in other parts of the Country that illegal people trafficking is linked to some lap dancing clubs. With the ‘light touch enforcement described in the proposals, how will we know if this is happening in Cornwall, or if the girls/women have made an informed choice or not?
We would be grateful if these comments are noted when considering how this issue is handled in Cornwall and Isles of Scilly.
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All comments noted.
It is Central Government that has decided that such businesses are legitimate and should be regulated.
No evidence has been produced to Cornwall Council linking this type of crime to specific premises in Cornwall. The Home Office Guidance relating to the new provisions states that these premises are not generally a source of crime and disorder.
The Licensing Conditions proposed in relation to all types of Sex Establishments seek to reduce the impact of premises on localities, and equally protect employees, performers and customers. Such conditions include standard permitted opening hours.
Performers are not always directly employed by premises; they are very often self-employed and therefore such conditions could not be applied, as the Licensing Authority would not be able to enforce such a condition.
Working hours are already legislated, and therefore should not be duplicated in Standard Conditions as the Licensing Authority has no jurisdiction to enforce this legislation.
With regard to light touch enforcement, etc., the policy reflects the Better Regulation Executive requirements; inspections will be carried out on a risk based approach and in accordance with Public Health & Protection’s Enforcement Policy.
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None
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N/A
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YES
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Appendix A – Notice of Application
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Local Safeguarding Children Board (109)
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20 Oct 2010
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Would suggest moving ‘under the provisions of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982’ at the end of the sentence or inserting a comma after the word ‘Council’ and the number ‘1982’
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This Notice has been redrafted by officers since consultation to make it a more comprehensive notice.
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None
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N/A
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YES
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Local Safeguarding Children Board (109)
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20 Oct 2010
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Item 2. Last sentence of this paragraph, Replace ‘from’ with ‘form’
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This Notice has been redrafted by officers since consultation to make it a more comprehensive notice.
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None
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N/A
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YES
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Appendix B – Standard Conditions, Sex Shops/Sex Cinemas
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Truro City Council – (113)
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20 Oct 2010
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Finally we note some problems in the proposed standard licensing conditions.
Condition 10 in Appendix B prohibits the Licensee soliciting custom ion the town or village where his premises are sited, but does not prevent him soliciting custom in a neighbouring town or village.
Condition 21 I Appendix B and condition 27 in Appendix C regarding mail order sales, both completely fail to mention that the mail order sale of R18 videos is illegal in the UK. Rl8s can obly be purchased within a licensed sex shop. This must be made clear to licensees.
We give below examples of suspected criminal links with UK sex establishments:-
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Sex shop owner in Worcester jailed in March this year for possessing thousands of indecent images of children
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Lap-dancing club owner arrested in February this year over claims he was employing a l6 year old Romanian Stripper
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Sex shop in Darlington raided by police over accusations it was being used as a brothel.
We would draw your attention to an extract from Manchester, C “Entertainment Licensing Law and Practice,” 2nd Edition, Butterworths, page 313 “Premises perhaps most likely to render locations inappropriate will be those used for religious purposes and those frequented by children and young persons. The view may be taken that premises ecogniz on sex as adult entertainment are incompatible (and therefore inappropriate) in close proximity to premises such as churches and chapels which traditionally have ecognized sexual activity as appropriate only within the confines of the marital relationship.
Premises may also be seen as incompatible in close proximity to premises such as schools and youth clubs. Society is protective of the state of childhood innocence and does not regard t as appropriate for children and young persons to be involved in or have access to material concerning sexual activity.”
A further illustration of the attraction of sex shops to known criminals is found in the number of UK applications to run a sex shop that have failed because the would-be licensee is found to have criminal convictions of some sort.
(Further details available). To tackle this problem we would suggest that more than the proposed light touch is necessary. We would suggest that a minimum of two anonymous “secret shopper” inspections are undertaken every year of each licensed sex establishment. This would allow officers to find out whether licence conditions are being complied with or if any other illegal activities are taking place.
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Comment regarding 18R videos agreed. Although this is a legal restriction clarification of this will be made in both the policy and the relevant standard conditions.
Comments related to criminal links noted.
Comments regarding proximity to types of premises – these matters are already covered in the policy at sections 9 & 11.
Undercover enforcement would require to be intelligence based, i.e. that breaches are suspected, and are subject to specific regulation. Standard enforcement protocols which are carried out on a risk rated basis would otherwise be utilised.
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Policy:
Section 11.8. New 2nd paragraph inserted – “It should be noted that in respect of Mail Order premises the Video Recordings Act 1984 states at section 7 (b) & (c) that no video recording that may only be viewed by persons aged 18 or over is to be supplied other than in a licensed sex shop. Case law precludes the sale of 18R rated films by Mail Order premises which holds a Sex Shop licence because the supply of the film to a person aged 18 or over cannot be confirmed; which fails to ensure that the age controls are properly enforced.”
Standard Conditions relating to Sex Shops, new condition 42 inserted: “ In accordance with section 7 (b) & (c) of the Video Recordings Act 1984 and case law no 18R rated films may be sold or supplied by Mail Order.”
Previous conditions 42 – 43 renumbered as 43 – 44.
Standard Conditions in relation to Mail Order premises:
New condition 28. “In accordance with section 7 (b) & (c) of the Video Recordings Act 1984 and case law no 18R rated films may be sold or supplied by Mail Order premises (even one which holds a Sex Shop licence).
Previous condition 28 renumbered 29.
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YES
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YES
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Local Safeguarding Children Board (109)
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20 Oct 2010
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2. Would suggest inserting commas after the words ‘Council’ and ‘Act’ and then ‘is’ and ‘general’ and finally after ‘save’ and the ‘as’ on the last line of this paragraph.
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All agreed.
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Amendments as per suggestion.
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YES
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YES
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Local Safeguarding Children Board (109)
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20 Oct 2010
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4. Would suggest removing the comma after ‘person’ and putting it after the word ‘licensee’ on the first line of this paragraph. Also, the word ‘some’ to be replaced with ‘a’ and another comma put after (“the manager”)
Also, insert ‘and having been’ before ‘nominated’
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All agreed, except the word and in front of “and having been”.
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Amendments as per suggestion, plus comma removed after “18”.
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YES
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YES
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Local Safeguarding Children Board (109)
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20 Oct 2010
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6 Would suggest a comma be inserted after ‘shall’ and ‘times’
Also, remove comma after ‘Premises’
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All agreed.
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Amendments as per suggestion.
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YES
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YES
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Local Safeguarding Children Board (109
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20 Oct 2010
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8 Would suggest ‘parts’ on first line is replaced with ‘sections’ or ‘areas’ and second ‘part’ on last line is replaced with ‘area’ or ‘section’
The first ‘part’ on the last line could read ‘surrender’ so there is not so many repetitions of the word ‘part’ within the same paragraph.
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Partially agreed.
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“area” used to replace “part”, “surrender” replaces part and word “with” deleted.
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YES
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YES
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Stithians Parish Council (30)
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28 Sept 2010
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11. Their name and that they are an employee. Presumably employment is not restricted to men?
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Agreed.
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Condition 11 amended as per suggestion.
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YES
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YES
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Stithians Parish Council (30)
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28 Sept 2010
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12. What about the performers? If they are not employed by the licensee do their names etc have to be recorded?
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There are no performers within sex shops and sex cinemas – only within Sexual Entertainment Venues.
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None
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N/A
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YES
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Local Safeguarding Children Board (109)
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20 Oct 2010
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14 Would suggest adding the phrase ‘under any circumstances’ to the end of the sentence.
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The addition of this wording is not considered necessary. The condition is already quite definitive.
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None
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N/A
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YES
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Local Safeguarding Children Board (109)
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20 Oct 2010
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14 Would suggest adoption of a confiscation policy for fake ID with a notice displayed to inform customers this may happen if their ID is suspected as being fake.
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This is not a matter that the Licensing Authority can condition as we have no authority to enforce against such a condition. It would be a matter for the police, for example, to provide advice and guidance as to seizure of such documents.
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None
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N/A
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YES
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Stithians Parish Council (30)
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28 Sept 2010
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15. Why should people who look less than 25 be checked to see that they are over 18. I could understand checking people who look less than 18. This is not clear unambiguous or objective.
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25 is stated in relation to requiring proof of age as it is easier to for the average person to make a judgement as to whether they think a person is younger than 25 than whether they are 18.
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None
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N/A
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YES
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Stithians Parish Council (30)
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28 Sept 2010
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16. This does not say that the names of performers shall be contained in the daily register?
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There are no performers within sex shops and sex cinemas – only within Sexual Entertainment Venues.
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None
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N/A
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YES
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Stithians Parish
Council (30)
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28 Sept 2010
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19. Does this mean sex cinemas can only operate in these hours as well?
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Yes, unless other hours are granted by the Committee, in which case the hours detailed in the standard conditions would be amended.
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None
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N/A
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YES
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Local Safeguarding Children Board (109)
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20 Oct 2010
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21This is very confusing to read. Would suggest a format such as the following:
‘Approval from the Council is required for changes from :
a sex shop (including a mail-order shop) to either a sex cinema or sex entertainment venue
sex cinema to either a sex shop or sex entertainment venue
a sex entertainment venue to either a sex cinema or a sex shop
This will require consideration of an appropriate application.’
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Agreed.
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As per suggestion, although “sexual entertainment venue” used instead of “sex entertainment venue”.
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YES
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YES
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Local Safeguarding Children Board (109)
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20 Oct 2010
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22 Would suggest ‘things’ be replaced with ‘items’
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Agreed.
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Condition 22 amended as per suggestion.
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YES
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YES
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Stithians Parish Council (30)
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28 Sept 2010
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22. Presumably therefore the performers may not use such things lest this be considered as a demonstration?
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There are no performers within sex shops and sex cinemas – only within Sexual Entertainment Venues.
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None
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N/A
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YES
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Stithians Parish Council (30)
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28 Sept 2010
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24 iv. Presumably therefore the performers may not use such things lest this be considered as a demonstration?
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Think this comment is in relation to condition 22. There are no performers within sex shops – only within Sexual Entertainment Venues.
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None
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N/A
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YES
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Local Safeguarding Children Board (109)
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20 Oct 2010
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25 Would suggest that ‘invisible’ be replaced with ‘not visible’ as it would be impossible for the applicant to make the interior ‘invisible’.
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Agreed.
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Condition 25 amended as per suggestion.
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YES
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YES
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Local Safeguarding Children Board (109)
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20 Oct 2010
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26 Would suggest replacing ‘render’ with ‘ensure’ and replace ‘invisible’ with ‘is not visible’ for same reason as above.
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Agreed.
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Condition 26 amended as per suggestion.
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YES
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YES
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Stithians Parish Council (30)
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28 Sept 2010
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37. If such facilities are provided, even for one person at a time would this not make the premises a sex cinema in terms of this policy?
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No – this relates to previewing only and not watching a film, etc., in its entirety.
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None
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N/A
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YES
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Local Safeguarding Children Board (109)
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20 Oct 2010
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38 Would suggest removing closing bracket from after ‘time’ and relocating it to after ‘employee’
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This amendment has already been made by officers whilst correcting typographical errors.
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None
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N/A
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YES
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Local Safeguarding Children Board (109)
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20 Oct 2010
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40 Fourth line, would suggest removing ‘is’ after ‘this’
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This amendment has already been made by officers whilst correcting typographical errors.
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None
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N/A
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YES
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Local Safeguarding Children Board (109)
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20 Oct 2010
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42 As, by now, it is clearly established that the policy is about sex establishments, I would suggest that the phrase ‘Sex Establishment’ in this paragraph is replaced with ‘premises’ and removed from the first line altogether.
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This is the standard conditions that will accompany a licence granted in respect of a Sex Shop Sex Establishment Licence; hence they are specific in nature.
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None
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N/A
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YES
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Appendix C – Standard Conditions, Mail Order
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Local Safeguarding Children Board (109)
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20 Oct 2010
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2 Would suggest inserting commas after the words ‘Council’ and ‘Act’ and then ‘is’ and ‘general’ and finally after ‘save’ and the ‘as’ on the last line of this paragraph.
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All agreed.
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Amendments as per suggestion.
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YES
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YES
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Local Safeguarding Children Board (109)
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20 Oct 2010
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3. Would suggest putting a full stop after ‘change’ on the fourth line, removing ‘and’ and starting new sentence with ‘Such’ to break up the paragraph a bit.
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These comments relate to Condition 5, not 3.
Agreed.
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Amendments as per suggestion.
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YES
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YES
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Local Safeguarding Children Board (109)
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20 Oct 2010
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4 Would suggest removing the comma after ‘person’ and putting it after the word ‘licensee’ on the first line of this paragraph. Also, the word ‘some’ to be replaced with ‘a’ and another comma put after (“the manager”)
Also, insert ‘and having been’ before ‘nominated’
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All agreed.
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Amendments as per suggestion.
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YES
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YES
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Local Safeguarding Children Board (109)
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20 Oct 2010
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6. Would suggest a comma after ‘shall’ and ‘times’ for better reading.
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All agreed.
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Amendments as per suggestion.
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YES
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YES
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Local Safeguarding Children Board (109)
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20 Oct 2010
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8 Would suggest substituting the word ‘parts’ on the first line with ‘areas’ and also substitute ‘part with’ with ‘surrender’. The word ‘part’ on the third line could be substituted with ‘section’ to reduce the number of ‘parts’ in the paragraph. It makes better reading.
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Agreed as per amendments made to Sex Shop & Sex Cinemas conditions.
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Amendments same as those made to Sex Shop & Sex Cinemas conditions.
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YES
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YES
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Stithians Parish Council (30)
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28 Sept 2010
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10. Do they have performers in mail order establishments? Seems unlikely if the public are not to be admitted as required in the previous para?
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Amendment to this condition has already been made by officers whilst correcting typographical errors. Any reference to performers has been removed as there are no performers within mail order premises – only within Sexual Entertainment Venues.
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None
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N/A
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YES
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Stithians Parish Council (30)
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28 Sept 2010
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13. What about performers? Does their health and safety not matter?
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There are no performers within mail order premises – only within Sexual Entertainment Venues.
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None
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N/A
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YES
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Local Safeguarding Children Board (109)
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20 Oct 2010
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15 This is very confusing to read. Would suggest a format such as the following:
‘Approval from the Council is required for changes from :
a sex shop (including a mail-order shop) to either a sex cinema or sex entertainment venue
sex cinema to either a sex shop or sex entertainment venue
a sex entertainment venue to either a sex cinema or a sex shop
This will require consideration of an appropriate application.’
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Agreed.
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As per suggestion, although “sexual entertainment venue” used instead of “sex entertainment venue”.
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YES
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YES
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None
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N/A
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16 Would suggest replacing the word ‘things’ with the word ‘items’
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Agreed.
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Condition 16 amended as per suggestion.
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YES
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YES
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Stithians Parish Council (30)
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28 Sept 2010
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16. Or mail order sex establishment. Otherwise they could be happily demonstrating away here? Presumably by appointment as the public are not allowed in.
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The public is not allowed on mail order premises so there would be no-one to “demonstrate” anything to.
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None
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N/A
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YES
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Local Safeguarding Children Board (109)
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20 Oct 2010
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18 If courier services are used, would suggest a signing policy whereby parcels must be signed for by over 18’s only.
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It would be inappropriate for conditions to be placed on businesses regarding matters that they would not be able to control, and be able ensure compliance with the condition.
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None
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N/A
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YES
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Stithians Parish Council (30)
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28 Sept 2010
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19. Does this cover a vehicle with advertising written onto it? You know how some restrictions on advertising are overcome, by having a vehicle bearing the message strategically parked.
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Conditions 19 to 22 relate to the external appearance of the premises only.
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None
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N/A
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YES
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Local Safeguarding Children Board (109)
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20 Oct 2010
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20 Would suggest that ‘invisible’ be replaced with ‘not visible’ as it would be impossible for the applicant to make the interior ‘invisible’.
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Agreed.
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Condition 20 amended as per suggestion.
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YES
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YES
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Local Safeguarding Children Board (109)
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20 Oct 2010
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21 Would suggest replacing ‘render’ with ‘ensure’ and replace ‘invisible’ with ‘is not visible’ for same reason as above.
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Agreed.
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Condition 21 amended as per suggestion.
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YES
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YES
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Stithians Parish Council (30)
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28 Sept 2010
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22. Presumably sex items. A typewriter for instance would not be precluded?
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There should be nothing that enables the public to know what type of business is being run within the premises; therefore no item of any description should be visible through a window or a door. It may not just be “sex articles” as the business could sell underwear which is not classed as a sex article.
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None
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N/A
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YES
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