SO sex shops in York have to pay more than £9,000 each year to be allowed to trade (Evening Press, July 13).

Since this money is supposed to represent the cost of administering and maintaining the licence, the council must be doing some very thorough investigating.

Compare this to the one-off fee of £1,905 that Absolute Leisure had to pay for the late licence for the Barbican. Which do you suppose might cost more expense to the council (not to mention the residents): a small sex shop, or a 3,000 capacity late-opening drinking den?

I certainly haven't read many letters in these pages from residents plagued by pornography-addled sex-shop customers.

The insanity of the licensing fees goes further than this. A youth club has to pay £400 every year. After five years, they will have contributed more to Licensing and Regulatory services than Absolute Leisure did. And by that time the Barbican will have raked in six-figure profits. Even tea rooms get charged hundreds of pounds.

The fees need to be radically changed to reflect the cost to the council and the community that these businesses cause. The Barbican is not only a terrible development for the area, but it is not paying its way, while the licence rates needlessly victimise easy targets.

Coun Mark Hill,

York Green Party,

Reginald Grove,

York.

Updated: 10:20 Friday, July 15, 2005