Councillors find lap-dance club visit 'worthwhile'
A group of councillors who agreed on a fact-finding trip to a lap-dancing club have described it as "an extremely worthwhile visit".
Ten members of Cornwall Council's Miscellaneous Licensing Committee joined three council officers in a trip to Temptations T2 gentlemen's club on Union Street in Plymouth last month.
A few days earlier, the committee agreed to adopt new Government legislation reclassifying lap-dancing clubs as sexual entertainment venues.
Committee members insisted the fact-finding trip would give them greater understanding of the industry when deciding on future sex establishment licensing applications – despite campaigners describing the move as "appalling and unnecessary".
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Committee chairman Jim Flashman, who had previously declined to discuss details of the trip, yesterday confirmed the committee members visited Plymouth on Tuesday, June 29. He said: "This has been an extremely worthwhile visit.
"It has clarified many questions for the committee and will enable us to make fully informed decisions in the future.
"Members who attended the visit appreciated the frank and open discussions with both the manageress and staff as without this honesty, we would have left the premises less well informed."
Lisa Dolley, vice-chairman, said: "I found it particularly beneficial to be able to have a full and frank question and answer session with both the manageress and the staff.
"As a woman I have never had the opportunity or reason to visit such clubs and without this visit I would be completely uninformed.
"We have seen what appears to be an extremely well-run club and we now have a model to work to with our policy and decision making."
Newquay resident Tracy Earnshaw, who has campaigned against lap-dancing clubs in her town, said the councillors and officers would not have seen the true picture of the industry during their fact-finding visit.
She said: "The outcome of this staged visit was inevitable when under the scrutiny of a police licensing officer and a group of committee members on a night out at the tax payers' expense.
"Did the committee really think that a visit with a police licensing officer would be any different?
"This is insulting to the tax payers of Cornwall's intelligence."
The council said it wanted to visit premises out of the county which were wholly unconnected with any businesses in Cornwall which might come before their committee.
A council spokesman said the committee shared transport where possible, "kept expenses to a minimum" and carried out the fact finding mission in a "strictly professional manner".
He added that the council members did not watch any of the entertainment.
http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/news/Co ... ticle.html
Starting from the top..
Starting from the top..
There is so much of interest in this article..
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Starting from the top..
LMAO ! 
So, they didn't watch any of the "entertainment", but some how they're now "much better informed"....
That's a neat trick...
So, they didn't watch any of the "entertainment", but some how they're now "much better informed"....
That's a neat trick...
And what were they "classified" as previously? Bakeries? Libraries? Auto garages?A few days earlier, the committee agreed to adopt new Government legislation reclassifying lap-dancing clubs as sexual entertainment venues.
