Edinburgh strip clubs win court battle to stay open as nil-cap deemed 'unlawful'

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Edinburgh’s strip clubs will stay open after a judge ruled the city council’s bid to ban them was unlawful.Strippers had been left fearing for their futures in the trade after the City of Edinburgh Council brought in what it described as a nil-cap policy last year – an effective ban on sexual entertainment venues (SEV).

Clubs in the Scottish capital, alongside strippers themselves, launched a judicial review in a bid to quash the policy set by the authority’s regulatory committee, and on Friday Lord Richardson ruled it was unlawful.In his 82-page judgment, Lord Richardson said: “The committee was wrongly advised that in the events it made a nil determination… that would not constitute a ban on SEVs.” Strippers welcomed Lord Richardson’s ruling, which came after a two-day hearing at the Court of Session in December.Rosie Walker, partner and head of litigation at Gilson Gray, which acted for the United Sex Workers (USW) union, said it was a “fantastic and very well-deserved result”.She added: “If it had been upheld, the council’s nil-cap decision would have resulted in the closure of all strip clubs in the city.

That would have meant many of USW’s members losing their livelihoods or having to move away from their homes and families to find work elsewhere.”The city’s strippers told councillors at the March 2022 regulatory committee meeting about their fears if they pushed ahead with the nil-cap policy.

Concerns were raised that the ban would push the trade underground and force strippers into prostitution, making it less safe for women, but it was approved by a five to four vote.After the decision, which prompted fury among workers and even saw an Edinburgh Fringe burlesque act become part of the campaign to save the