We spoke to a sex worker in Leeds’ legal red light district

In January, Leeds council introduced a “managed area” for prostitution in Leeds.

The area in Holbeck was dubbed Britain’s first “legal” red light district , and Holbeck is now the centre of many debates on how to handle sex work.

From 7pm to 7am, prostitution is not only decriminalised, but Holbeck is transformed into a “red light district” where sex workers and punters can legally do business.

Prostitution in itself is not illegal in the UK, but soliciting sex and curb crawling is. These activities are ignored in Holbeck during the “working period”.

This is to push prostitution out of the shadows and into less criminal hands to make the trade safer.

Trixie, a professional dominatrix and erotic masseuse who works in the area, told me it’s working. She said: “When you decriminalise it, it can make people less scared.

“They’re less scared about speaking up about mental health problems if there is abuse going on, because they then don’t feel like they’re going to get arrested or get into trouble.”

Recent statistics support the view – before the initiative, 6 per cent of sex workers came forward about abuse. Now,the Telegraph report the number as closer to 60 per cent.

Despite this, many feel that prostitution is more rampant in the area – and thus possibly more destructive and dangerous, allowing human trafficking to become more profitable.

Trixie says simply decriminalising it isn’t good enough. She said “It’s like they’ve decriminalise it, but they’re not really going to do anything about it – because the criminals seem to be doing an alright job, so they will let them get on with it.

“They should allow people agency over their own lives: so if somebody chooses to do sex work, they should be able to do that safely and without coercion, and with access to sexual health and counseling if they need it.”

It’s difficult to know how to make it safer. The new initiative may allow the law to permeate the sex industry and aid sex workers across the country – or it may simply be ineffective.