Council discusses sauna licensing measures

EDINBURGH is coming under pressure to consider abandoning the licensing of its controversial saunas after police raids.

Figures on the city’s council are said to be holding talks over the possibility of taking saunas and massage parlours off an official list of establishments requiring a licence to operate.

One council insider told The Herald’s sister title, the Sunday Herald they “would have to “take their chances with the police”.

Since the mid-1980s, the council has granted public entertainment licences to saunas widely known to be used by sex workers.

It was part of an attempt to manage prostitution and tackle the city’s HIV infection rates.

This was thrown into confusion after Police Scotland raided a number of the saunas in June. Ten people were arrested for brothelkeeping and living of f immoral earnings.

The council suspended six establishments’ licences.

With half of the city’s saunas t hrea t e ned by closure and the other half facing an uncertain future, the long-established licensing policy is in disarray.

Top councillors and officials are thought to be looking at if the council should stop licensing the brothels.

Saunas and massage parlours are explicitly mentioned in the council’s “public entertainment resolution”, which lists the type of activity to be regulated. The list also includes premises for go-karting, fireworks displays, circuses and raves.

Jenny Kemp, the co-ordinator of the Zero Tolerance charity, said: “It’s always been a nonsense that Edinburgh’s saunas are licensed under the same regime as sunbeds, amusement arcades and funfairs. Buying sex is exploitation.”