[WATCH] Legislation to regulate lap dancing clubs in the pipeline

Legislation to regulate lap dancing clubs in the pipeline

Lap dancing clubs will soon be regularized as the government is planning to pass legislation which will manage the operations of gentlemen’s clubs, including the way they advertise their services.

Many of the adult clubs, whose number has increased in Paceville – Malta’s entertainment mecca – place women on Paceville’s streets, handing out flyers and inviting prospective patrons into the club.

For Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi, the regularisation of lap dancing clubs would contribute towards “a friendlier environment for everyone”.

Flanked by Environment Minister José Herrera, Mizzi unveiled plans that would see maintenance, upkeep and cleansing of each of Malta's touristic zones overseen by a specific team.

Mizzi said that over the past five weeks, the Foundation for Tourism Development, together with the Environment Ministry had organised teams, made up of WasteServ employees, to carry out work on such zones. 

There are currently 20 people working on the initiative.

He added that this was just a first step, and that the government intended for the initiative to be sustained all year long.

Mizzi said the reform would see each zone have a “town manager” who would be "a call away" from town mayors. 

The project, he said, would not impact council's funding and would simply facilitate the means through which irregularities, maintenance and cleansing requirements, as well as the need for enforcement are communicated to the Malta Tourism Authority.

The minister added that over the coming months, and closer to the announcement of next year's budget, government would also be announcing a number of capital projects related to tourism.

Herrera underscored the need for his ministry to adopt more of a "hands on" approach in the upkeep the environment, adding that policy drafting wasn't enough

"I have therefore asked WasteServ to strengthen its corporate social responsibility by going down to beaches and helping in their upkeep," he said.

Herrera said that over the coming weeks, his ministry would be announcing the setting up of an agency called 'Ambjent Malta', that would also be tasked with the management of Malta's environment.

He also said that government would be passing noise pollution laws once parliament reopened. 

Turning to last week's enforcement operations on a number of beaches, Mizzi said that a number of other were planned this week however several operators had taken steps to regulate their position before there was the need for enforcement.

He said that government would also be looking to renegotiate several beach concessions, especially in light of the fact that some beaches had been eroded and there was therefore considerably less space.