OPENING a massage parlour in Worcester will be a costly exercise in the future after councillors decided to raise licence fees by 50 per cent.

The price rise for businesses offering "massage and special treatments" in the city is likely to be the first in a number of large, staggered increases in fees for local firms which require special licences to operate.

These include pet shops, horse-riding centres, dog breeders and sex shops.

A meeting of Worcester City Council's licensing committee was told that the cost of issuing and enforcing licences stands at more than £150,000 a year, when all the income from the fees is taken into account.

Councillor Roger Knight, the cabinet member in charge of finance, said: "For some time I've been saying we need to close the gap between cost and income in this area.

"But we do need to be careful, as some of the options for breaking even are absolutely ridiculous."

He highlighted the case of pet shops, where fees would have to be increased by more than 500 per cent (from £98 to £704) for the council to meet the cost of carrying out regular safety inspections.

"I think we should be looking at a five-year plan with the aim of narrowing the gap," Coun Knight said.

"We could make forecast increases so those affected have adequate time to deal with it. But ultimately if it costs the council a certain amount of money to offer a service, we should be seeking remittance for it."

However, as a massage parlour licence is only a one-off payment for new businesses, rather than an annual charge, the committee decided to raise that particular fee to a break-even level immediately, from £164 up to £246.

"This is a one-off, start-up cost, which only new establishments are charged," said Deputy Mayor Coun Lucy Hodgson, recommending the price hike.

"We are therefore not affecting establishments which are already up and running. These charges should reflect their true cost to the council."

The massage and special treatments licence is payable by any business offering massage, chiropody, sauna, tanning or other similar treatments.

There are currently 19 such licensed premises in Worcester, though the council believes others may be operating without a licence.

Other businesses hit hard by fee increases this year will be pet shops and animal boarding centres (12.3 per cent increases) and acupuncturists and tattooists (10 per cent increases). All other licence fees will rise between four and six per cent this year.