People in Tower Hamlets are being given their first chance to influence whether strip clubs and similar venues should be allowed to operate in the borough, under a new consultation launched this week.

The council wants to gather community opinions on a draft policy which says that there is no location within Tower Hamlets suitable for sex establishments, and that they should be restricted to 'nil'. The consultation is open to residents, local businesses and organisations.

The Council would like the new policy to reflect the attitudes of the Tower Hamlets community, and whether or not a restriction is put into place would be entirely dependent on the views received through the consultation.

The proposed policy has been drafted under legislation introduced by the previous government in 2009. The legislation gives local authorities greater powers to control and reglate sex establishments such as lap dancing, pole dancing and table dancing clubs, strip shows, peep shows and live sex shows.

Under the rules, sex establishments can be curbed on the basis of the locality being unsuitable, if the community supports this. Moral or equalities reasons cannot be used to justify a restriction.

The consultation was launched on Monday 5 September and lasts for six weeks