RESIDENTS will get a say on whether they want lap dancing clubs in Weymouth and Portland under new government plans.

The council will meet today to discuss its new Sexual Entertainment Policy, and after this is created, residents and business owners will have eight weeks to comment on the plans.

It comes after a new policy on adult entertainment was brought into force.

The Sexual Entertainment Licence would give local authorities more power over the regulation of venues that provide sexual entertainment, like lap dancing clubs and adult shops.

Councils would also be able to set a figure for the maximum number of sexual entertainment venues in the borough, which could be set at zero.

All bars and shops already holding a premises licence will also have to re-apply for a sexual entertainment licence.

These licences would be renewed on a yearly basis.

Weymouth has one lap dancing club and one adult shop, in the Park District.

Owner of Goldfingers lap dancing club, Parviz Panjalizadeh, said that he did not think the new licence would stop his business, but was unhappy that the new licence could cost £3,500 a year.

He said: “If the licence fee was a one-off or for 10 years or permanent, I wouldn’t mind paying it.

“But I would have to pay £3,500 each year, without knowing if I’m going to get the licence again the next year.”