Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema has halted work on the city’s proposed erotic centre near the Zuidas business district, pushing a decision on the project to after the local council elections in March.

The move comes amid deep political and public divisions and leaves the plan without the support needed to proceed. D66, one of the mainstays of the local coalition, have dropped their backing for the plan and there now is no majority on the council for the green light.

Halsema on Thursday sent the feasibility study for the centre to the council, saying the location next to the A10 ring road “spatially and financially feasible” and could accommodate “around one hundred sex work spaces”.

Under normal circumstances, the next step after such a study would be to develop an investment proposal but Halsema is leaving that decision to the parties that will form the next city administration in March 2026.

The idea behind the “erotic centre”, which was scheduled to open in 2031, is to reduce over-tourism in the city centre, provide a safe place for sex workers to operate and curb the involvement of organised crime in the sex industry.

Those ambitions remain unchanged, Halsema told councillors this week.

In 2024, city officials selected a site on wasteland south of the A10 ring road, near the RAI exhibition centre and the Zuidas business district to build the centre.

In March, it emerged that officials in The Hague were concerned about the international reaction if Amsterdam pressed ahead with building the brothel at that location.

The European Medicines Agency, which is located on the eastern edge of Zuidas, has also protested heavily about the location.