‘Zoning’ street sex work: the way forward?

Abstract

A number of government reviews and local and national research have demonstrated considerable dissatisfaction with current UK approaches to street sex work and the ineffectiveness of current polices to address the safety, well-being and rights of street sex workers and the nuisance and incivilities reported by some communities living in areas where street sex work takes place (Benson and Matthews 1996; O’Neill and Campbell 2002; Home Office 2004). Some researchers, local and national stakeholders/policy makers and sex worker activists have called for the ‘zoning’ of street sex work, and looked to countries where the formal management of street sex work via an ‘official street walking zone’ has been adopted, for example the Netherlands. There remains strong opposition from others and little indication at a national level for support for ‘zoning’. Debates about ‘managed areas’ or ‘tolerance’ zones have often dominated discussions about policy options for responding to street sex work in the UK. This chapter will consider what is meant by ‘zoning’, the debates about zoning street sex work in the UK, areas where a policy of ‘unofficial zoning’ has been adapted and the lessons that can be learnt from the Netherlands experience. We conclude that a policy framework should be developed which enables those areas which have carried out inclusive consultation and wish to pilot ‘zoning’ to be able to do so. We caution that the model of zoning adopted should have at its heart improving the safety and rights of street sex workers and not compound their marginalisation. Zoning should not stand alone butbe part of a multi-layered strategy to address street sex work. Areas in the UK have the option of looking towards countries such as the Netherlands and Germany for guidance regarding the critical factors for more successful ‘zoning’. While ‘zoning’ does not offer a panacea we argue that as part of a holistic strategy it has the potential to offer a way forward to improved sex worker safety and rights, accessible services and reduction in community impact.