A COUNCILLOR has called on people to trawl the Internet for their turn-ons so a town can get rid of the sex shops he claims are degrading the community.

Granville Lord spoke as hundreds of Burnley residents called for the un-licensed shops at 122 Colne Road and 124c Colne Road to be closed.

A leading local clergyman today backed the call for the sex shops to be shut but said looking on the internet for thrills wasn't the answer either.

After receiving a 474-name petition councillors are giving the two shops in Colne Road, Duke Bar, until their next meeting on January 17 to apply for sex establishment licences.

Both were trading without a licence, members of the licensing sub-committee were told last night.

They set the application fee at £1,500 of which £250 will be refunded if the licence is granted.

If the applications are refused or no applications are made the council could then take enforcement action, legal officer David Talbot said.

Coun Lord said he considered it to be totally degrading to the community to have sex shops in the town. "It is disgusting to the people of Burnley. I don't feel there is any room for them in this town, there is always mail order e-mail or the Internet for anyone who wants it," he added.

Chairman Coun Philip Walsh said shops had been trading there for at least ten years and people were unhappy about it.

After the meeting Canon Brian Swallow, Area Dean for Burnley, said: "It may be stating the obvious but the church's attitude is that there is no room for sex shops anywhere. "We just had a situation here where a car dealership was in the process of being changed into a general grocers and we were told we couldn't object to it because it was still going to be a retail property. What alarms me is that it could have become a sex shop and we would have had no recourse to object to it.

"Personally I think there shouldn't be a place for such things and that the Church should make a stand.

"Councillor Lord may be right about being able to get it in other places but that is not right either."

The premises at 124c, owned by Quiet Lynn Limited, were licensed in May, 1994, but since then the licence had lapsed.

Following complaints about 116 Colne Road officers inspected those premises in spring/summer last year and concluded that a licence was not required.

Since then that shop had closed and similar premises had opened at 122 Colne Road.

One of the petition organisers, Linda Smith, of The Haven Christian Drop-In Centre, Accrington Road, said: "It is not fair to the children, the elderly or other people to have shops like these on a main road in the middle of a residential area. It affects the whole tone of the area, it is like walking down Soho."

She said that anyone who wanted the service provided by such shops should use mail order or the internet. She said: "These things should only be served in brown paper parcels through the letter box."

Another petitioner Anthony Perkins who parts live near to the shops said: "They are very upset that the shops are here. they find them distressing and I think they should be closed."

A man describing himself as the tempory manager at the Pirate Shop at no. 122 said: "No-one is forced to come into the shop and there are no windows allowing people to look in.

"There are far bigger problems around here with derelict buildings and drug dealers than selling material which shows a completely natural act."

He would not give his name but added: "At the end of the day it is only sex, there is nothing dirty or squalid about sex. There is a clear demand for it proved by the number of customers we get."

An assistant at the Private Shop at 124c spoke to his boss on the phone and said: "We have no comment to make."

Picture: Anti porn shop campaigners Linda Smith and Anthony Perkins outside the sex shops at Duke Bar and (inset) Councillor Lord