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Memorandum submitted BY NATIONAL ORGANISATION of RESIDENTS ASSOCIATIONS (PC 13)
In letters sent earlier this year in response to the Home Office circular on Sex Encounter Establishments (=SEE), this organisation (NORA) fully supported the need for the separate licensing of such establishments for four main reasons. These concerns cannot be used currently in objecting to planning or licensing applications. · The suitability of the Applicant · Whether the person applying is a "front" person for someone else · The location and situation of the premises in relation to other premises in the area · Whether the number of sex establishments in that locality is equal to, or exceeds the number which the Council considers appropriate for the area NORA has member organisations that in turn represent
over 500,000 residents living in conurbations in
The exemption in Clause 25 (3) (3) (b) for premises, that hold less than one Sex Encounter performance in any one month, is strongly opposed. This would allow licensed premises with a licence for dance to hold such events, however rarely, and defeat the objective of residents resisting the performance of Sex Encounter performances, particularly in reference to the third reason of the four listed. NORA accordingly seeks the deletion of this exemption.
Secondly, the original Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 was discretionary, and this new Bill retains this option for all its changes. Surely this particular licence needs to be mandatory and not at the discretion of each local authority, in order that it is universal and applies to all local authorities. Otherwise the absurd situation could arise that at the boundaries of local authorities there could be SEEs without a licence in spite of local worries on one side and no SEEs on the other side because residents' concerns had been recognised and responded to by the relevant local authority. Please can this particular section be made mandatory for all local authorities? February 2009
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