Sex aids and pornographic videos will soon be on sale in Lancing.

The town's first mail order sex shop has been given licence to trade.

Adur District Council planners approved businessman Timothy Richardson's proposals for a sex shop in Commerce Way, Lancing Business Park, at a meeting yesterday (January 29).

Despite the Local Plan stating there should not be any "sex establishments" in the Adur area, councillors were convinced the mail order shop would not be damaging to the area.

Environmental health officer Nigel Dawson said three companies had objected to the application, including one based inside the building where the sex shop would trade.

He said: "An overt sex establishment could have a profound effect on these businesses in terms of their own image.

"The objectors can see the potential for this application to be detrimental to their name as a trading name.

"It could have effects on staff and recruitment of staff.

"The feeling was it could have an effect on businesses using the business park.

"Objections on moral grounds are not relevant for refusal."

Mr Dawson said a number of conditions could be imposed to ensure the sex shop was not run in an obvious manner, like directions to answer the telephone saying "AMS" rather than using the company's full name Adult Mail Solutions.

Mr Richardson said the shop would not be dealing with customers directly - only by telephone or post. Any employees would be checked to ensure theywere 18 years or over, no signs would flaunt the nature of the company and deliveries would pass in and out of the building in plain parcels.

Mr Richardson had worked as a sales manager in a North London sex shop for seven years before moving to the Brighton with his wife and two young children.

He said: "My experience has been that children are not generally interested in entering such a shop.

"If they did enter they would be ejected from the premises.

"We're planning to sell lingerie, magazines, books, sex aids, videos, clothing and footwear.

"We'll be advertising in the national papers.

"We already have a post box in place and the actual address would never appear in these advertisements.

"Nobody will actually know we are there."

Adur's chairman Councillor Liza McKinny asked Mr Richardson: "Why have you come to the South Coast? It seems to me people are more likely to use your sorts of goods up there (London).

"You know the area, you know the London market."

Mr Richardson said, being a mail order company, his customers could be from around the country regardless of where he is based and that he moved to Brighton for a better quality of life.