Albury city planning committee last night approved a minor modification to a consent approval issued in July last year after a fierce debate in the community about scantily clad young women dancing around poles.

The change, approved without debate, meets the requirements of licensing authorities for an adult entertainment venue selling alcohol.

It means there will be one private area instead of two but it makes no substantial change to the concept for the Drome Street building in East Albury.

The consent allows the brothel building to be subdivided into two lots, with the brothel activities separated from the striptease club.

Churches and individuals bombarded Albury councillors with protest letters, petitions and emails in 2008 demanding they ban the striptease club but there has been no response to the latest modification.

Church leaders in Wodonga claimed last year that “strip clubs are part of sexual abuse for money along with pornography, prostitution, phone sex and sex trafficking: each feeds upon the other”.

Lavington Catholic priest Peter Murphy claimed the local population was against activities that “degrade human dignity for material prosperity while seeking to exploit and undermine basic family values”.

The Wodonga branch of the CWA said striptease acts were demeaning to women and debasing to men.