A new licensing regime for sexual entertainment venues in Dumfries and Galloway looks set to come into effect on New Year’s Day.
Councillors at Thursday’s communities committee in Dumfries are being asked to agree the final terms of the sexual entertainment venues policy statement it needs by law.
They will also have to set a proposed fee for grant or renewal of a new licence and it is being proposed that this should be £1,586 “whether granted for one year’s duration or less” and would mirror the current fee for a sex shop licence.
However, premises where “sexual entertainment” is provided on no more than three previous occasions in a 12-month period are not to be treated as SEVs and would therefore not need a licence.
Premises are classed as a SEV where sexual entertainment is “provided before a live audience for the direct or indirect financial benefit of the organiser” and a licensing regime is discretionary for Scotland’s councils.
A first public consultation was held from February 7 to April 7 in 2020 to gauge public opinion on whether the council should regulate SEVs or they should be allowed to operate across the region unchecked.
Around 157 responses were received with 71 per cent in favour of SEVs having a direct licensing regime.
The council took its first steps a year ago in agreeing to adopt a resolution to licence SEVs from January 1, 2023.
It paved the way for preparing and publishing its SEV policy statement which included another public consultation conducted through April and May this year.
Among the suggestions, which councillors are being asked to consider, is that the allowed number of SEVs throughout the region should be set at zero; the whole of region should be identified as “one locality” to apply uniformity; and that “presumption of refusal” is enhanced if the location of a proposed SEV is within 500 metres of a specific list of “sensitive premises” which includes schools and places of worship.
