A sex shop chain has won a major victory against extortionate license fees charged by Westminster City Council, in a landmark decision .
The council has been ordered to slash the license fees it currently charges sex shops after various
outlets, led by Simply Pleasures Ltd, brought their case to the appeal court. Timothy Hemming, owner of Simply Pleasures, based on Brewer Street, and six other shop owners had argued that at most, only 10% of the fees were justified.
Since 2005,
Westminster City Council has charged sex shop owners in the West End of London £ 29,102 for their annual licence. In 2009, new European laws came into force in the United Kingdom, which prevented licensing
authorities from charging fees going beyond the actual costs of the licensing process.
The council was challenging an earlier High Court ruling made in May last year that a European directive would not permit the licence fees paid by legitimate
sex shop proprietors to include the cost of enforcement against unlicensed shops.
Licenses could now cost £ 1,100. The ruling will also force the council to repay more than £
1m in overcharged fees collected since 2010.
Hemming said:
I think I can speak on behalf of licensees to say that we are all very much delighted at the verdict.
You never expect
any outcomes in courts but we thought that our case was justified in being there.
The whole point of taking the council to court was because we thought the fee was excessive - we just wanted Westminster to justify the fee or admit
that £30,000 was an extravagant amount.
Cllr Nickie Aiken, Westminster's cabinet member for public 'protection' and premises said the decision would have:
massive implications for local
authorities nationwide. This is not just about sex shops, this affects almost everything for which councils charge to carry out enforcement.
Westminster is considering leave to appeal against the judgement.
