VoxVlog

Paid sex is legal in Holbeck, Leeds, West Yorks, between 8pm till 6am.

The project was designed to protect vulnerable women from violence by regulating prostitution.

But the prostitutes remain at risk, and residents have said that incidents of sex in open spaces such as parks and woods – sometimes in full view of children – have been on the rise, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Residents and businesses have raised concerns about what the plan is bringing to the area.

A key architect of the scheme admitted it is on the brink of collapse.

Executive councillor Mark Dobson told the Telegraph: "Unless the scheme is seen to work, it will fail – and it is failing."

One resident, Claire Bentley-Smith, was due to tell council, police and health officials at a meeting tonight: "It’s not appropriate to have girls bought and sold on our streets in 2018."

Other residents have said that it has turned into a "meet and greet" area for prostitutes and their clients who proceed to have sex in public in parks and woods.

**Life in the Red Light Zone: 'Truth' behind Britain's sex industry EXPOSED**

Shocking world of sex tourism in pictures View gallery

This behaviour is still illegal, despite being in the red light district, because it infringes public decency laws.

Recently children have been finding condoms and syringes from outdoor sex and drug use.

The zone in Holbeck was created four years ago with the aim of stopping sex trafficking and violence and combatting sexually transmitted diseases by regulating the sex trade.

Men can buy sex between 8pm and 6am without the women being arrested, and a map of the district is available online.

**Calls for red light districts with legal sex workers across UK**

The plan has previously come under fire after Daria Pionko, a prostitute working in the area, was murdered in 2015.

Last year it was revealed that the number of rapes and sex assaults reported to police have increased alarmingly in the red light district.

Rapes reported to police in the Beeston and Holbeck Ward – covering a wider area than the red light zone – were 13 in 2012, 15 in 2013 and 22 in 2014.

Sex assaults reported to police are currently more than double the number before the zone was introduced.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3IpbCsrJGne6S7ja6iaKaVrMBwuMCtnKysXaOyuL%2BOrqJmq5WterOxw2ajop%2BYqXqltdKtqaKbpGJ%2Bd4SWb2trbQ%3D%3D