THE decision by Poole council’s licensing committee to give the go-ahead to a licensed sex shop on the High Street is truly bizarre. They received 63 letters of objection and 12 of support. The committee ignored any objections they deemed to be morally based, on the grounds that Parliament has already debated the moral issues (back in 1982, when the Local Government Miscellaneous Provisions Act was passed). The supposedly moral objections that were ignored included concerns about the effect of a licensed sex shop on the viability of the High Street as a retail and visitor attraction and concerns about the appropriateness of locating a licensed sex shop in a conservation area.

They also included an objection based on disturbing research evidence about the damaging effects of the mainstreaming of sex shops that has taken place since 1982.

Apparently, more and more young women are being persuaded by their partners to watch R18 DVDs with them, which can only be purchased in licensed sex shops, and are being pressured into acting out the scenes and taking part in humiliating sex acts they are not comfortable with.

The only objections the committee did consider were proximity to churches, a youth group and a school uniform shop. And even these objections were dismissed, except, it would seem, to disallow Sunday opening.

ALAN NEALE, Pearce Avenue, Poole