Cllr Stroet was unhappy that a pole dancing club had tried to gain application for opening from Ipswich Borough Council and he is delighted it has been withdrawn.
Below are his reasons for not wanting the club to open:
As an Ipswich Borough Councillor I received my weekly list of planning applications registered during the week ending 28h July 2011. As a resident living in Alexandra, and it is as a local resident I address you today, the “change of use of ground floor of premises from A4 drinking establishment to sexual entertainment venue” at 28 – 32 Tacket St, caught my eye. Moreover, it was not a planning application that was deemed “likely to go to committee”!
As an Ipswich Borough Councillor I am the Shadow Portfolio Holder for Planning and Economic Development. In addition I’m on the Town Centre Working Group and the Ipswich Central Management Board. I asked myself, was a town centre “Pole Dancing” club the sort of industry that other businesses, churches and residents would wish to cluster around? Was this the type of business that would help to inspire the economic development our town so desperately needs? As a Conservative Ipswich Borough Councillor my judgement was that this club would frustrate attempts to redevelop and improve an already struggling part of our town. For example, for Ipswich to be accredited with “Purple Flag” status it needs to show a clear commitment to raise standards of the evening economy in entertainment and hospitality. This surely is not conducive with IBC’s attempts to obtain purple flag status and make the Town a safer place.
As a local resident I was angry. This was the last thing the town needed. Frankly, in my opinion, pole dancing clubs are seedy. They are one link to the sex industry this town in particular can do without. Local resident, Dave Cooper, touched on the sensitive nature of this plan in a letter to the Star when he described Ipswich, as a “town still recovering from such gruesome murders a few years back”. I understand that there is intelligence that former prostitutes and vulnerable women have been enticed back into sexual entertainment where there have been licensed premises. Therefore, in my view, there is a real risk that sexual entertainment licensed at this premises could lead to inducement to engage in prostitution. I would urge the members of the committee to think very carefully before voting for a plan that could undermine the very effective work done since the adoption in 2006 of the Ipswich Prostitution Strategy, which has gone a long way toward eradicating street prostitution in this town.
I am not a religious man. I do however have a great deal of respect for all religions and for those who wish to practice them. Locating a club described by Clause 25 of the Policing and Crime Act as a “sexual encounter establishment” – officially making it part of the sex industry just yards away from the Roman Catholic St Pancras Church and United Reformed and Baptist place of worship, Christ Church, is insensitive to say the least. I think Father Leeder’s assessment that – to quote “it would attract clientele we could do without in the area” is absolutely correct. Aptly put indeed, especially when you consider Scout group meetings and other young peoples’ activities that happen most evenings at both churches.
Maybe I’m a little old fashioned. I like, for example, to see women treated with respect – this would certainly not be the case at a pole dancing club. However, I am certainly more than aware that some women do themselves no favours with their skimpy dress and binge drinking ‘laddish’ behaviour. Residents already have to deal with drunken teenagers of both sexes spilling out of night clubs throwing up kebabs on the pavement, hazy headed brawls and ‘lairy’ behaviour. Our town’s night-time economy needs a diverse choice of activities, but that doesn’t need to include providing the town with just one more form of low entertainment. There are other people living in our town who might appreciate something else, before they start to feel that this town isn’t their town any more.
To sum up, it might be right for Soho, Blackpool or the bright red lights of Amsterdam, but it is not right for Ipswich in the rural county of Suffolk. We want to develop a warm, friendly, vibrant town centre with a sparkling Waterfront that will make us the pride of East Anglia. Surely there is no-one elected to represent the good people of Ipswich who would want anything less.