Councillor calls for brothel regulation to improve St Marys
Penrith Council endorsed an audit of the night-time economy in Queen St, St Marys, but one councillor believes the image needs to be cleaned up.
Penrith
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Penrith councillor Marcus Cornish has expressed concerns over the number of brothels in St Marys after council endorsed a night-time economy study and audit of Queen St.
At the Policy Review Committee meeting on Monday, the council’s place manager Jeni Pollard presented council with results and recommendations from the audit.
Ms Pollard said there was a dynamic takeaway food and beverage industry currently on Queen St, but negative perceptions of the safety of the area was holding it back, particularly after 7pm.
During the audit, which was taken between 7pm and 8pm, the most people recorded was 176 on a Friday night.
Ms Pollard said these numbers were knocked down by the area’s negative reputation, but also said she had found very little documented evidence of anti-social behaviour.
However, Cr Cornish believes the negative perception comes from the types of businesses on Queen St.
“The biggest thing is the brothels, and most of them are illegal,” he said. “Council should be regulating these to rebuild confidence in the area.
“We need to stop any chance of sexual slavery in these brothels, which would help the image, and thus the economy, of St Marys.”
Cr Greg Davies believed the night-time economy would pick up with the arrival of the new St Marys Interchange.
“The major improvements will happen when we get increased residential living,” he said.
“It gets back to the amount of people available to drive the economy.”
Cr Tricia Hitchen agreed with Cr Davies about the new interchange, and said council was working on making the space more appealing.
“There’s no one at the station after 6pm, because there’s currently no reason to be there,” she said.
“We’re looking at some lighting installations, and we’re trying to connect through to Coachman’s Park.
“We’ve also approached the owner of the empty shops to be used as Christmas displays. “We’re working actively to try and brighten it up, and I think we can achieve a lot down there.”