Updated: LICENSING chiefs in York are poised to adopt new powers allowing them to take a tougher line on lap-dancing clubs in the city.

City of York Council is expected to adopt Government guidelines which will mean residents having more opportunity to air their objections to applications for sexual establishment licences.

Under a new aspect of the Policing And Crime Act, local authorities can choose to use tighter controls which can mean applications are turned down if they are deemed “inappropriate” for a particular area, as well as requiring licences to be renewed at least once a year and setting a limit on the number of clubs.

York has two lap-dancing clubs; at Ziggys and Bohemia in Micklegate. A report which will go before the council’s licensing and regulatory committee tomorrow said both had “operated without problems” since opening in 2006 and 2007 respectively. But the report’s author Dick Haswell, the council’s head of licensing, said the increasing number of these clubs had become an issue of concern for many local communities and the previous controls, under the Licensing Act of 2003, were essentially “a light touch for the granting of licences with a presumption they should be granted”.

Mr Haswell said the council was among a number of local authorities which had asked for extra legislation to provide controls specific to lap-dancing clubs and similar businesses. The new Act also allowed a more stringent set of conditions to be attached to sexual establishment licences.

He said: “There is no overriding reason to adopt the new licensing provisions in respect of these established businesses. What the new regime would give is much greater control with respect to any applications for new premises.”

The committee is set to recommend the rules should come into force in York from December.