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A council debate took a bizarre turn when councillors were asked if they had slept with a prostitute.

Plans for a new sexual health clinic in a Leicester shopping centre were being discussed by Leicester City Council when the comment was made.

The city council wants to relocate its existing clinic, used by 29,000 people a year, from the St Peter’s Health centre in Highfields to a vacant first floor unit in the Haymarket shopping centre.

Officials say the move would save hundreds of thousands pounds a year and provide a modern clinic in a more accessible location for people seeking advice and treatment.

Critics say the location, up the main stairs opposite the lifts, offers little privacy to those concerned about the stigma of sexual transmitted diseases but the council insists it is discreet.

On Tuesday night, its planning committee met to debate the application.

Council director of public health Ruth Tennant told councillors: “At the moment we are in an NHS PFI building and the rental costs are extremely high.

“We can save around £400,000 each year by moving into a building where we can pay local market rent.”

She said the council had considered around 30 different locations in the last 18 months.

She added: “A really key point is access and confidentiality.

“It needs to be somewhere people can walk into and feel comfortable and that they feel is open and welcoming."

She said the 10,000 square foot property could also be used for other services such as smoking cessation.

Coun Lucy Chaplin said: “I don’t have a problem with moving the clinic. However I do have concerns about this venue.

“The confidentiality and discretion are really important.

“When you are there at the site the stair case is a bit of a showcase.

“When you go up them there are not many places you would be going to other than that clinic.”

“In this day and age of online bullying we need to be prepared to find a location that isn’t such a hotspot for potential loitering and is people really want to be mischievous."

Coun Patrick Kitterick told the committee the financial and accessibility benefits of relocating the service from St Peter’s were not in doubt however he said: “It’s this particular location.

“Our friends in the council do a fantastic job of reducing stigma about sexual health.

“How many people here have ever worried they have had a sexually transmitted infection?

“How many people here, themselves or family members, have considered having an abortion?

“How many here have slept with a prostitute?”

Coun Kitterick, a former chairman of the planning committee, continued “We all like to pretend there is no stigma about sexual health but there is.”

Committee chairman Ted Cassidy intervened.

He said: “I don’t think that is appropriate.”

Committee member Ross Grant said: “These aren’t planning issues. This is a sideshow.

“What is offensive is a former chair of planning coming to this committee in what is a clear misuse of process.

“There was talk of being mischievous and that is what has happened here.

“We are trying to be taken as fools to make a decision which has nothing to do with planning or more likely he’s trying to use the stage to grandstand for political reasons which have more to do with what goes on in Labour group meetings.”

Conservative councillor Grant later confirmed he was referring to Labour’s ongoing process of selecting a mayoral candidate for next year’s city elections.

Fellow committee members voted unanimously to approve the plan.

After the meeting deputy mayor Adam Clarke who is responsible for public health said the council hoped to have the new £1.6 million centre open by the end of the year.

He said the current rent for the St Peter’s health centre was unreasonably high.

He said: “It is a big win to move out of quite an ethically questionable PFI building which puts money in private hands.”

The Mercury asked whether the council relocating would not put the NHS under greater financial strain.

He said he had held discussions with NHS officials over the move and was confident they could fill the space and make up the rent in other ways.