Lap-dancing clubs increase while library numbers drop

Lap-dancing clubs, casinos and betting shops are increasing in number in the UK, while the number of libraries and schools is falling, new figures show.

The statistics have been called a modern day Domesday Book, with critics saying it shows the “decline of traditional Britain”.

The number of lap-dancing clubs has increased from 24 to 300 since 1997, but the number of public libraries has shrunk by six per cent in the same period.

Schools, police stations, hospitals and public toilets have also become a rarer sight on the nation’s streets, the figures show.

The figures also signify a drop in the number of sport and social clubs.

Tory Communities spokesman Justine Greening said: “Labour has presided over the decline of traditional Britain and watched as our local communities are damaged.

“Thanks to a decade of Labour, local neighbourhoods have lost access to essential local services and facilities.”

She added that rural communities had been hardest hit.

The figures were produced by the Valuation Office Agency as part of the latest revaluation of business rates.

A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said surveys suggested most people were happy with their communities.

Earlier this month the Home Office announced that local people will be given new powers to appeal against lap-dancing clubs in their area.

Currently residents can object for licensing reasons only, such as crime and disorder, nuisance, public safety and protecting children.

But from April people in England and Wales will be able to oppose an application for a club on the basis that it would be inappropriate for the local area.

Last week a former lap dancer told The Times that girls younger than 18 are pushed to perform sexual acts on men in lap-dancing clubs in order to make the job pay.

In a candid interview an ex-lap dancer called Milly shattered the myth that the practice “is no more than dancing”.

“No one sticks to that,” she said. “And if you do, you quickly lose out.”

But in 2008 the owner of a lap-dancing club chain claimed that his clubs were no more sexually stimulating than a disco.