Upper Hutt To Allow Brothels in Residential Areas

Upper Hutt City Council are the latest local body to attempt to liberalise prostitution laws protecting families.

Previously the law banned brothels from
1. residential areas;
2. or within 200 metres of a school, kindergarten, playcentre, pre- or after-school care centre, play area, place of worship, or rest home

The draft Bylaw amends the existing bylaw as follows:
1. Allows a sole sex worker to operate from his or her own home (could be next door to your home - could even be next door to your child's school or church)
2. Reduces the buffer zone of a brothel to 100m of a school, kindy, place of worship etc
3. Permits brothels in limited areas of the central business district i.e. central shopping area!

PLEASE SPEAK UP:
* Brothels should not be allowed in residential areas - end of story - and a recent court case backed this up
Court decision against residential brothel is victory for families - Family First Media Release 2006
* there is no good reason for reducing the buffer zone to 100m. The idea of a buffer zone is to prevent unnecessary exposure to children and families. There is a strong association between brothels and gang involvement, drug and alcohol abuse, used condoms littered about, and general nuisance. This is unacceptable in both residential, public and family areas. The buffer zone is also an attempt to prevent unnecessary exposure of teh sex industry to children and young people, and to prevent normalisation of the behaviour.

Overview http://www.upperhuttcity.com/page/877/BrothelsBylaw2003ProposedAmendments.boss
Existing Law http://www.upperhuttcity.com/store/doc/brothels.pdf
Draft Bylaw http://www.upperhuttcity.com/store/doc/Draft-Brothels_Bylaw_Amendment_2008.pdf
Ironically, at a Council meeting of the Policy Committee held in July 2008, they resolved that Council "..recognises that prostitution may be offensive to members of the community, and seeks to minimalise its impact by controlling the location of brothels..."

CLICK HERE to read Family First's Submission to Council

Submissions on the proposal will be received by the Council up until
5pm Monday 8th December 2008
and should be sent to
Upper Hutt City Council, Private Bag 907, Upper Hutt 5140
or simply email askus@uhcc.govt.nz