Your editorial comment on the application for a sex entertainment licence for premises in Pennyfarthing Place misunderstands both Government and city council policy.

Both the previous government and the current coalition have placed great emphasis on giving power to local neighbourhoods to shape their communities in the way that they wish.

The law on licensing was changed last year to allow local people to determine the areas in which sex entertainment would be suitable and acceptable.

This power is similar in intent to local planning regulations which allow planning applications to be rejected on the grounds that a particular building would not be appropriate for the location proposed – such as a waste tip immediately adjacent to a nursing home, or a manufacturing unit in the middle of a residential area.

The city adopted the national regulations last summer and set out in the local licensing plan the areas where sex entertainment would generally not be acceptable – focussing particularly on residential areas, areas where there are establishments for children and young people, heritage areas and places of worship. None of this reflects any moral stance, just a practical and commonsense approach to planning communities.

Pennyfarthing Place is clearly an unsuitable location on the criteria established in the regulations, and local residents and ward councillors have expressed their strong opposition to the licence application.

Other locations in the city would not conflict with the criteria in anything like the same way and applications in those areas could well be approved.

In each case, however, the council would take full account of the detailed regulations that were approved last summer and, in the spirit of localism, the views of the neighbourhood.

Bob Price Oxford City Council leader