Prostitutes will be allowed to work unlicensed from home in suburban Tauranga under a draft bylaw to regulate the city's red light industry.
In a turnaround from its position three months ago, the council yesterday decided that a prostitute who worked from home would not be deemed to be operating a brothel.
Council policy chairman Stuart Crosby said today that the shift took place after councillors had heard from the Tauranga Prostitutes' Collective on the impact of banning prostitution from residential areas.
The collective told councillors 15 to 20 prostitutes worked from home in Tauranga and most were escorts doing calls to hotels and motels.
But Mr Crosby stressed there were still several stages to go before the bylaw was passed, including public submissions.
The bylaw defines a sole operator not running a brothel as "only one person offering commercial sex services from his or her own residence".
- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES
Council decides prostitutes can take work home
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