Call to move strip club and sex shops in Northampton to out-of-town-centre location
| Posted: January 26, 2016
Wellingborough Road currently homes one strip club and two sex shops, all of which the leader of the Labour Group wants to see be relocated
A call to relocate sex entertainment outlets in Northampton town centre 'away from where we live and where we shop' has been made by the leader of the opposition Labour Group on the borough council.
Councillor Danielle Stone, who made the call at last night's Full Council meeting at the Guildhall, said the lap dancing club and two sex shops on the town's Wellingborough Road are a 'daily insult to families who want to live in a kind and caring community'.
The opposition leader said 'it is completely wrong to normalise the commercial use of women's bodies', and added that 'I and everyone I have spoken to' would like to see the outlets moved out of the town centre.
Cllr Stone, who made the call at Monday night's meeting during the review of the council's licensing policy, said: "There is just one issue that I am concerned about. This review of policy gave us the opportunity to do something about the location of sex entertainment outlets. It is my view that these venues should not be located in residential areas or on highstreets or local shopping areas.
"There are several reasons for this.
"We are witnessing a big spike in reported domestic violence. This is taking place in the social context of the increasing commodification and exploitation of women, an increase in human trafficking and domestic slavery and the sexual exploitation of children.
"It is completely wrong, in my view, to normalise the commercial use of women's bodies and to promote the view that people are commodities to be bought and sold like any other commodity.
"There are three sex entertainment outlets near where I live. All of them are on the Wellingborough Road, where families do their local shopping, that children pass on the way to and from school, that are there as a daily insult to families who want to live in a kind and caring community.
"I and everyone I have spoken, to would much prefer these venues to be relocated away from our neighbourhood, away from where we live and where we shop.
"Many Local Authorities s have put restrictions on the location of these venues. We have missed an opportunity to do the same."
The updated licensing policy, which councillors approved at the meeting, shows no changes to sex entertainment outlets, stating that 'lap dancing, strip tease and other forms of adult entertainment may still be provided and authorised by the Licensing Act 2003'.
However, the policy states they may only be provided if 'no relevant entertainment has been provided on more than 11 occasions within a 12 month period'; 'no such occasion has begun within a period of one month beginning with the end of the previous occasion'; and no such occasion has lasted longer than 24 hours'.
The licensing policy, which has to be reviewed every five years, outlines the rules for pubs, clubs, late night venues and taxi operators.
Comments
As a former sex shop manager in northampton I would like to inform the Councillor that there are a huge amount of lesbian and gay clientele in northampton and that male bodies are also exploited, although these people do not fit into the councilors model of family life she is promoting it does not mean they are not caring people, or that they should be forced to hide or feel embarrassed by their sexuality. with sexist homophobic draconian sentiments such as these expressed by Danielle Stone which are uneducated and have flimsy evidence to back it up. Where is the evidence that these shops have caused an increase in domestic violence ? a vote for miss stone is a vote for uneducated and uniformed decision making.