Councillors vote to reconsider strip club ban in bid to avoid judicial review amid “catastrophic” financial situation

Edinburgh City Council may avoid judicial review proceedings challenging its decision to implement a nil-cap on strip clubs after councillors voted to reconsider the policy last week.

Last week (27 October), Cllr Lewis Younie successfully tabled a motion calling for councillors to agree that a report be presented to the council's Regulatory Committee and that the committee re-examine the issue.

In March of this year, the Regulatory Committee agreed a sexual entertainment venue (SEV) 'nil-cap' to come into force in 2023, effectively establishing a blanket ban on the businesses.

Within a month, sex workers union, United Sex Workers (USW), launched a crowdfunding page to fund a judicial review of the decision.

On its Go Fund Me page – which has amassed £21,000 in donations – USW claimed that the ban breached the Equality Act 2010 and was unlawful. It said SEV nil-caps "discriminate against women and other marginalised groups, such as people with disabilities and migrants, who make up the majority of strippers".

At the time, the group said that it needed £20,000 to cover the costs of the judicial review and wanted a further £20,000 to support "any future legal costs towards the ongoing SEV nil-cap debate in Bristol". Bristol has since rejected proposals to introduce a nil-cap.

Susan Rae, a Green councillor who opposed the nil-cap when it was first adopted, said Edinburgh council's financial position has gone from "precarious" to "absolutely catastrophic".

She said: "I have no idea what's going to happen if we don't at this point take the opportunity to go back to committee as soon as possible and reverse this decision and instead have to go to court."

Cllr Younie said he would like to get a report to the committee next month but had been advised that the council should wait 'two cycles' to avoid another judicial review.

Adam Carey