Strip club owners attack plan for tough venue licence crackdown

STRIP club owners have hit out at plans to crack down on lap dancing, and accused politicians of putting their dancers at risk.

In a letter to MSPs, the adult entertainment bosses said government-backed proposals to introduce new restrictions on lap dance venues were totally unnecessary.

They also claimed comments by SNP backbencher Sandra White and others, linking dancers to prostitution, were "reckless and irresponsible".

The letter from the Association of Licensed Adult Entertainment Venues Scotland, representing clubs in Edinburgh as well as elsewhere in Scotland, said: "These comments, which are frankly defamatory and actionable, have potentially endangered the safety of our female members of staff and also damaged the reputation and trading capacity of the association's venues."

It said the suggestion that venues provided sexual services and women working there were engaged in prostitution was "utterly without foundation".

In a separate letter, a group of lap dancers told MSPs: "We choose lap dancing as a means of sustaining and improving our quality of life.

"Sandra White and do- gooders have branded us as 'prostitutes, exploited, vulnerable, slappers' and our dancing in our clubs as 'demeaning' to women in general. We are anything but. The majority of us are well-educated women who train hard for our dance art.

"Some of us work full-time and others part-time in what we regard as a safe, secure, friendly, clean and well-paid environment."

MSPs are due to debate controls on lap dancing on Wednesday. Ms White has tabled an amendment, supported by the Scottish Government, to the Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill, which would give local authorities the power to limit the number of such venues in their area. She would like that limit to be zero.

However, critics, including the Law Society, say the move is unnecessary because lap dance venues are already covered by existing licensing rules, which allow licensing boards to refuse premises a licence on the grounds of the activities proposed to be carried out there.

Steve Macdonald, of Hooters, one of seven lap dancing clubs in Edinburgh, said licensing boards already operated a code of practice for such venues.

He told MSPs in a letter: "The lap dancing industry is one of the most closely monitored and tightly regulated licensed activities in the country."

He said there was no evidence of disorder, antisocial behaviour or public nuisance surrounding such clubs.

Justice secretary Kenny MacAskill gave his backing to Ms White at the Scottish Parliament's justice committee last month, and civil servants helped her redraft her amendment.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We acknowledge that Sandra White is responding to the requests of some local authorities who have called for further strengthening of the legislation on this issue."