Warning on Hamilton prostitute restriction

Any attempt to ban sex workers from Hamilton suburbs will drive prostitutes underground and will be difficult to police, industry advocates say.

Residents and some city councillors want sex workers banned from residential areas after an outcry over two women working from a Chartwell house.

But Bernadine Bryant, from the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective, said such workers generally went about their business unnoticed and city bylaws should focus on parlours.

"If you outlaw privates it will push them further underground. That's when it is dangerous, when we can't reach them."

East ward councillor Peter Bos said it was preferable "in an ideal world" that brothels were not in residential areas but "the world isn't perfect".