A judge has ruled that an effective ban on lap-dancing clubs in the city would be unlawful.
Image source, Getty ImagesA ban on lap-dancing clubs in Edinburgh, due to come into force later this year, has been overturned.
Councillors voted to limit the number of sexual entertainment venues (SEVs) in the city from the current four to zero, from April 2023.
But the decision was challenged by a group of club owners and performers.
A Court of Session ruling found that Edinburgh Council was wrong to believe they could introduce a zero cap and still grant licences under exception.
Lord Richardson ruled that the effective ban on lap-dancing clubs was unlawful.
“I do not consider that the respondent {the council] has put forward a good reason why the erroneous decision should not be quashed,” he said in a lengthy statement.
The council’s regulatory committee “was wrongly advised that in the event that it made a nil determination…that would not constitute a ban on SEVs,” he added.
A crowd-funded judicial review was heard in court in early December.
Members of the United Sex Workers (USW) union highlighted concerns about having to work in unsafe, unregulated environments.
The union said in a statement that after months of uncertainty, workers were “incredibly pleased” at the court’s decision.
The original decision, if upheld, would have resulted in the closure of all strip clubs in the city and “meant many of our members losing their livelihoods or having to move away from their homes and families to find work elsewhere”, it said.
“Not only is this a huge win for strippers in Edinburgh, who are no longer facing the prospect of forced mass-unemployment in the middle of a recession, but for the working rights of strippers across Britain,” the statement continued.
“Nil-caps are a violent, anti-worker policy that removes strippers’ access to safe workplaces, workers rights and their ability to improve their own working conditions.
“Now they have been found unlawful, we hope this puts an end to local councils imposing strip club bans and closing down our places of work, for good.”
Image source, Google
Steve MacDonald, a spokesperson for the Club Operators Action Group which brought the legal action, said it would work with the regulatory committee and licensing board to continue providing “a proven safe working environment for all our staff members, customers and particularly our performers”.
The council’s regulatory committee originally voted by a majority of five to four to effectively ban the clubs.
But its membership has changed since the decision last March, following May’s local elections.
Earlier this week the new committee backed a 12-week consultation – once the outcome of the judicial review was known – to allow the council to review the policy.
Councillor Neil Ross, convener of the regulatory committee, had said the purpose of a licensing authority for SEVs was “primarily to safeguard the performers and others in the venue”.
The Scottish government brought in laws in 2019 allowing councils to limit the number of lap dancing venues.
In March last year, Glasgow City Council agreed to allow the city’s three lap dancing clubs to continue trading, and awarded licences for the first time in September.