Aurora New Dawn was proud to be among a group of 7 deputations made to Portsmouth City Council concerning the relocation of lap-dancing club Elegance to a property on Albert Road.

The Council’s Planning Committee voted unanimously to reject the application from local lap-dancing club owner, Paul Ojla.

We have a number of reasons why we object to the application.

First and foremost, Aurora New Dawn supports the women’s bodies are not a commodity to be bought and sold, acknowledging the United Nations’ Convention to Eliminate Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which calls on the government to reduce the objectification of women to advance gender equality.

This requirement was highlighted by remarks from the UN Special Rapporteur earlier this year, who said there was “a more visible presence of sexist portrayals of women and girls” and a “marketisation of women’s and girls’ bodies” in the UK, which was more pervasive than elsewhere.

The Gender Equality Duty (2007) places a legal obligation on Portsmouth City Council to ensure that their decisions do not have a negative impact on women’s equality and require the Council to actively promote gender equality and to work towards countering gender stereotypes.

Lap-dancing is an industry staffed almost exclusively by women for male clientele, so the Council’s policy on lap-dancing falls under the Duty. Recognition of the gendered nature of the industry played a role in the campaign for the Council to introduce an SEV Policy for the city, which was passed in 2012.

The SEV Policy commits the Council to a ‘Nil Cap’ on any further lap-dancing clubs in the city. While Elegance has a license for its premises in Granada Road, as SEV licenses are non-transferable, re-locating the club would trigger the Council’s nil cap policy.

The proposed site is immediately adjacent to the Wedgewood Rooms, a nationally well known and popular performance venue attracting large numbers of young people, including under 16s, making it wholly inappropriate as a location for a sexual entertainment venue (SEV).

Although the decision was made unanimously and supported by a local campaign led by councillors, Mr Ojla is entitled to appeal the decision.

Speaking about the appeal, Shonagh Dillon, Chief Executive of Aurora New Dawn, “We’re delighted that the local campaign against the move has been so successful.

“If Mr Ojla decides to appeal, we look forward to campaigning again to uphold the decision, and ensuring that Portsmouth City Council keeps its own SEV licensing policy, approved in 2012.”

Aurora was an active partner in the campaign to introduce the SEV policy, alongside the Solent Feminist Network and local residents.

We are delighted to report that the Leader of Portsmouth City Council has contacted us following yesterday’s news reports and our letter to the Cabinet to reassure us that the nil cap on SEVs will not be overturned.

Cllr Vernon-Jackson said:

“I’m sorry that there has been a misunderstanding of this. In the budget we have to look not only at cuts but also where more income may come from. My understanding is that there are currently 3 SEVs in Portsmouth but our past budgets had assumed money from just 2. In the budget that was passed yesterday we just adjusted the figures to expect a fee to come from 3 – as is now the case. This meant we could avoid other cuts but there is no expectation of any more SEVs in Portsmouth.”

We’re very glad to hear it.

We’ve written back to the Leader for a bit more clarity on the current status of lap dancing clubs in the city and how future licensing will equate to a saving of £8000.

In addition we’ve asked the Leader if he can clarify a couple of issues we noticed yesterday while preparing our letter to the Cabinet:

• The minutes from the Council meeting last October on the future licensing of lap-dancing clubs is missing from the Council’s website and we’d like to know why, and when we can expect them to be published for the public record
• We’d also like to know the current status of the Draft SEV Licensing Policy for the city, which according to the website currently remains in draft, and when this might be officially formalised

 

We’ll keep you informed as soon as we hear, but in the meantime, it’s worth remembering that our statement to Cllrs yesterday remains true:

“…let’s be clear as to why Aurora New Dawn is in favour of the nil cap.

We work, every day, with the end result of socially entrenched sexism, namely the victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence.

In the national and international women’s sector of which we are part, there is no doubt that the sexual objectification of women – as practiced in both page 3 and lapdancing clubs – is directly linked to the incidence of sexual and domestic violence.

This is not a matter of opinion or conjecture.

The link between the objectification of women and discrimination and violence towards women is recognised at an international level by the legally binding United Nations Convention to Eliminate Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which has repeatedly called upon states – including the UK – to take action against the objectification of women.

We believe that one day, the world will look back on the routine custom of objectifying and commodifying women as a bizarre and fundamentally inhumane practice – just as we currently look back at the slave trade or the practice of sending children up chimneys.”

We hope that day is getting closer and we hope that Portsmouth City Council continues to work towards a society where no one – man, woman or child – can be bought and sold as a commodity.