Protesters against Leeds legal red light zone in Holbeck install 'guerilla plaque' over Welcome to Leeds sign

In the style of an English Heritage blue plaque, the sign read: "Britain's first municipal brothel. Est 2014".

Members of the Leeds ReSisters covered the Welcome to Leeds sign near junction three of the M621 on the approach to Leeds city centre yesterday morning (Wednesday).

Their target was the nearby red light zone in Holbeck and specifically, the council's controversial approach to managing it.

The so-called Managed Approach (MA), pioneered by the council in 2014, allows street sex workers to ply for trade without fear of arrest, within agreed hours.

Women from the Leeds ReSisters are opposed the MA as they say that "women and children continue to be harmed by society's tolerance and normalisation of prostitution."

The aims of the MA from the outset have been to reduce the prevalence of street-based sex working, lessen the problems it creates for residents and local businesses, and better engage with the women involved to improve their safety and health.

A recent independent review by academics at the University of Huddersfield said the approach should remain but continue to evolve.

But women opposed to it have have been staging protests throughout September and October and are planning more.

Claire, a member of Leeds ReSisters, said: "It is the first of a series of guerrilla plaques we intend to place across the city, to acknowledge the women harmed in prostitution in Leeds.

"As our month of activism draws to a close, the Leeds ReSisters remain determined to apply pressure until the council recognise prostitution as violence against women, as defined in international law.

"We want appropriate exit services to be provided for the women in the sex trade, to enable them to build a life free of addiction, criminality and violence.

"These exit services should be audited, to ensure they are providing appropriate support."

The group favour the The Nordic Model approach to prostitution, where the police go after the purchasers of sex by handing out fines or prison sentences to punters, and leave the sex workers in peace.

Claire added: "We want the council to make a full equality impact assessment of the impact of the Managed Approach on the women and children of Leeds.

"We claim that women and children continue to be harmed by societies tolerance and normalisation of prostitution.

"The council’s ambition to make Leeds the UK’s first 'women friendly City' is incompatible with the industrialised objectification and abuse of female bodies in Holbeck.

"Do the ruling Labour group understand that Leeds is talked of as the misogyny capital of the UK?"

Responding the to the first of the Leeds ReSisters protests last month, councillor Debra Coupar, Leeds City Council’s executive member with responsibility for Safer Leeds, said: "We fully recognise that there continues to be strong feelings from those in favour and not in favour of the Managed Approach and that there are residents and groups with concerns regarding its negative impact on their lives and on Holbeck as a whole.

"This cannot and will not be ignored by us, and we continue to be committed with our partners through the Safer Leeds partnership to listening closely to the views of local residents, the community of Holbeck regarding the Managed Approach.

“It was through this type of engagement with the local community that we requested an Independent Review be undertaken into the scheme. The review which findings were published in July of this year found that the Managed Approach was able to deal at least as positively if not more so with problems associated with on-street sex working than any other policing approaches in the UK. All work undertaken must be consistent with UK law, and not the laws and models of other countries.

"This means for example as highlighted in the review, that all elements of other strategies, such as the Nordic Model, cannot currently be fully implemented in the UK without a change in legislation. Secondly the review also highlighted that the Managed Approach was viewed as an essential factor in better engaging with street sex workers to improve their safety and health.

"These recommendations relate to two key critical parts of our work and it is positive that progress has been made in both of these important areas. Whilst welcoming these findings, it would at the same time be wrong not to acknowledge other elements of the report that were not as positive, and we are continuing to work extremely hard to make improvements and changes where appropriate to improve our day-to-day operational approach.

“Enforcement remains an important element of our work and in operation as part of the scheme are a designated four person policing team in the area, Safer Leeds patrols and CCTV. The Managed Approach is a strategy consistent with and informed by National Policing Sex Work Guidance as advocated by the National Police Chief’s Council.”

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