Policing and Crime Bill

I am concerned about retrospectivity, which is what this is likely to be in terms of the number of venues within an area. If the legislation comes in as it is and there is no long transitional period or carrying forward of the licences that are already granted under the licensing regime, businesses will be concerned that they will be put out of business. A local authority may suddenly decide that it will not continue to have the same number of lap-dancing premises. For example, there may be eight venues in a local authority which says that its number will be reduced to four. What will happen? We have had lots of discussion about the retrospective nature of other legislation and its impact on businesses that are operating at the moment. The concern is what will happen to, in many cases, very expensive premises. We are talking as if all lap-dancing organisations are complete mavericks. As the Minister knows, some big organisations regulate this business very thoroughly and put a lot of money into it.