MP SECURES NEW LAW VICTORY FOR LOCAL PEOPLE
Stourbridge MP, Lynda Waltho has been backed by equality campaigners, after securing major victories in the fight against sexual exploitation as Parliament passes the Policing and Crime Bill.
In a victory for local people who object to having their neighbourhoods blighted by sex clubs, Dudley Council will now be able to apply stringent regulations on lap dancing clubs, to protect the rights of women in the clubs and to give local people the right to object to a lap dancing club opening in their area.
Lynda Waltho MP said: “I’m really proud to have represented local people by seeing these laws, which came into force yesterday, take effect. Businesses in Stourbridge that want to provide lap-dancers and strippers will now have to declare themselves to be ‘sexual entertainment venues’
The new laws on lap-dancing clubs will mean that Dudley Council will have to look carefully at how sexual entertainment venues are being managed, to protect the people who work there, as well as having to give local people a say on whether they want sex clubs on their doorstep.
During the debate in which strict controls for lap-dancing clubs became law, the Government also clarified that regulation of existing lap-dancing clubs, under the new rules, would also come into force.
Lynda concluded: “It was really important that as the local MP I took up the issues that local residents in Hagley Road and Lower High Street brought to me when they found they could not object to planning for these clubs. It has taken 18 months from beginning to end but I’m really pleased that I have been able to actually formulate a law that will help my constituents in Stourbridge.
I hope lap-dancing clubs in the area, as well as Dudley Council, who will now regulate them, will be conscientious in taking and implementing these new laws and are fully aware that they don’t just apply to new lap-dancing clubs but the ones that are peddling their trade at the moment, too.”
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