Public may comment future of lap dancing in Dundee

Dundee City Council has said its licensing board will consider a public consultation on lap dancing bars later this year.

All six Scottish councils which currently have lap dancing bars in their areas are holding consultations on their future or they are considering it, BBC Scotland can reveal.

Glasgow and Edinburgh have already launched consultations.

It emerged last week that Aberdeen, Fife and Highland councils intend to hold them.

Dundee City Council has now told BBC News its licensing board will consider a public consultation later this year.

The Scottish government brought in legislation which allows councils to limit the number of sex venues.

This includes setting a zero limit if they wish.

• Public to have say on Edinburgh lap dancing clubs

• The lap dancers who joined a union

Last year, several groups campaigning for action to combat violence against women called on the Scottish government to make strip clubs illegal as they "normalise…misogynistic attitudes".

The government's own strategy includes "lap dancing" in its definition of violence against women.

The public consultation in Glasgow, which was launched at the end of May, has prompted the city's lap dancers to campaign against what they believe is a threat against their jobs.

They have joined the GMB union and campaign under the banner #Askthe700 - the number of lap dancers the union estimates work in Scotland.

Glasgow City Council insists no decision has been made, and encourages everyone - including the dancers and the union - to get involved with its consultation.

Dundee currently has one lap dancing bar - Private Eyes, in the city's Rattray Street.

The change in legislation allows councils to determine what to do about the "sexual entertainment venues" in their areas, notably lap dancing bars. However, the term is not just limited to those bars. It could be a pub or club that hosts a party night with sexual entertainment more than four times within a year.

Ten other local authorities which currently have no lap dancing bars have either launched a public consultation already or they are considering some sort of debate on the issue.

Renfrewshire and North Ayrshire have launched public consultations, while Aberdeenshire, Angus, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, North Lanarkshire, Perth and Kinross, the Scottish Borders, and South Ayrshire told BBC Scotland that the issue is under consideration.