Scotland - Glasgow consult on new Sexual Entertainment Venue Policy
2019
On 31st May Glasgow launched their public consultation on a new Sexual Entertainment Venue (SEV) Policy for the city.
This follows the Scottish Government bringing into force the Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015 (Commencement No.9 and Transitional Provisions) Order 2019 which makes changes to the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 and introduces a new discretionary licensing regime for sexual entertainment venues (“SEVs”). These changes came into effect on 26 April 2019.
Glasgow are now consulting on whether to adopt these new powers in order to regulate the licensing of SEVs in the City and further what the appropriate number of SEVs in Glasgow should be, if SEVs were to be licensed.
The legislation would allow Glasgow to put a cap on the number of licensed venues in the city, which could be zero subject to results of their consultations. The city currently has four licensed venues.
The new powers are similar to those already in force in England and Wales. When the new policy was introduced into Leeds (which included defined areas within the city deemed suitable for such venues) a cap was set at a lower level than the number of venues trading in the city at the time of implementing the policy and led to a number of venues closing.
The end date for responding to the consultation is 26th August 2019.
We shall keep you updated.