Bristol is set to become the biggest city in the country to ban lap dancing clubs.
Plans to limit the number of strip clubs in the city to zero were passed for consultation last week, following a council vote.
Residents will now be asked about the plan, which councillors say will help tackle sexist abuse and violence against women.
Council leader Margaret Hickman said: “We can’t ignore the fact that casual street harassment of women and domestic homicide are one of the biggest social issues that Bristol has to deal with.”
The proposals say allowing adult entertainment venues increases the risk of the council being sued for failing to eliminate harassment and discrimination.
It comes after Sheffield City Council was successfully sued for failing to apply its equality duties to lap dancing club licences.
Campaign group Not Buying It led a landmark action, and said Sheffield Council did not pay “due regard to eliminating harassment, discrimination and victimisation of protected groups such as women".
Sasha Rakoff, chief executive of Not Buying It, told the Guardian: “Bristol is ending the ‘strip clubs on the high street’ phenomenon because they recognise that this breeds and feeds the very attitudes that leads to harassment, abuse and ultimately violence against all women and girls.”
But some local councillors opposed the move.
Bristol Live reported Cllr Richard Eddy saying: “We are asked not to give our taste, our moral view, whether we believe these sorts of clubs should exist, we are asked to weigh up the crime statistics and the evidence and say if we believe there is a link.
“In my view there is no link at all.
“The existing clubs are well run and well regulated, so I can’t see evidence that we should drop the cap to nil.
“That would be a grave mistake.”
Cllr Eddy said a ban could push the activities underground where performers would have no support.
“Our businesses and our people are struggling to survive and recover from Covid,” he said.
“Are we seriously going to make these people unemployed? That seems monstrous.
“Common sense and defence of the interests of the workers mean we should keep the current cap rather than pandering to the views of the Fawcett Society.
“That’s the sort of morality we should vote for.
“I hope we agree not to go out to consultation which means we go back to the current cap figure which people understand and most Bristolians approve of.”
A Bristol City Council officer told the council meeting they found no evidence that a nil cap in other cities forced the industry underground.
No dates have yet been set for the consultation, which is expected to be delayed by the purdah period ahead of the local elections.
