AMANDA’S small flat in Soho has been her home for the last 10 years. It’s also where she offers her customers a wide range of ser. vices — which is why she could soon find herself doing what she dreads and working the streets.

Along with dozens of other prostitutes in Soho the 28-year-old faces eviction by Westminster council, which wants landlords to refurbish their properties and to bring flats like hers back into solely residential use.

The council has written to a number of landlords threatening to compulsorily purchase their property if it not is improved to a "satisfactory standard" and "returned to proper and permanent residential use".

One letter, from Westminster’s acting assistant director of housing, warns: "You have given no commitment to removing the prostitutes from the first and second floors. As long as this situation persists the compulsory purchase will continue."

The council’s move has led working girls like Amanda to launch an unprecedented public campaign to save their homes. It has won the backing of local residents, traders, businesses and the Soho Society.

"We’re residents like everyone else," said Amanda, speaking from behind a harlequin’s mask. "We pay our water rates and council tax like everyone else and what we do in our flats is our own business — unless of course a

Westminster councillor wants to join us, which some of them probably already do.

"If we’re forced out our flats will be sold to property developers who will rent them or sell them at prices we can’t afford."

The English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP), which estimates that there are 64 flats in Soho where the women live and work, is planning to mount a legal challenge against Westminster’s policy. It claims already that one flat in Green Street has been compulsorily purchased and paradoxically sold to what the girls describe as a "porn baron".

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‘We pay our rates like everyone else. What we do in our flats is our business’

Nina Lopez-Jones, of Legal Action for Women, said: "There have been no complaints about the prostitutes from other Soho residents, who instead object to the number of late opening licences given out by Westminster, for which it receives £500 a year. Prostitutes are mothers and grandmothers raising families yet they are also criminalised. What the girls do in their flats is not illegal — it is hard work and their work should be recognised."

The girls accuse Westminster of hypocrisy and point out that many tourists are attracted by Soho’s seedy reputation. Ida, who has lived in Soho for the past three years, said: ‘The girls have to go somewhere. Why not keep them in an area where everyone knows where they are? Where is Westminster going to put them?" The women’s campaign has won the backing of veteran agony aunt and longtime Soho resident Irma Kurtz. "The prostitutes are part of the Soho scene and I don’t believe in cleaning it up. They send their kids to the Soho parish school along with the sons and daughters of titled Lords; they are part of a terrific community.

"I’ve lived in Manhattan and Paris and the Soho prostitutes are by far the most discreet I’ve ever known. Everyone here knows their flats but they operate very quietly.

"If they were forced out they would move into areas such as Mayfair and Hampstead where they are not welcome and on to the streets where it’s dangerous." A petition organised by the ECP and backed by the Soho Society has attracted 600 signatures. Soho Society member Joan Martyr, who has worked in the area for 20 years, said: "They are so much part of the area that if they were evicted its whole character would change. These and other residents contribute to the social and economic life of Soho. Without them the area would be all office blocks and non-stop clubs."

As part of their campaign the girls staged a one-day strike on International Women’s Day last week which saw around 30 prostitutes — in masks to protect their identity — march through the area brandishing banners declaring: "Soho on Strike: Justice for Sex Workers" and "Stop persecuting mothers and daughters."

Nicky Adams, of the ECP, said: "The march was quite a victory as it’s very hard to organise the girls into making a public stance as they are very wary of coming forward. But their lives and their livelihoods are on the line over this.

"We know that if they are forced on to the streets they face extreme danger. Two prostitute women who were evicted in 1995 moved to the Midlands where they were murdered. We can’t let that happen again."

Westminster council denies deliberately targeting flats where prostitutes live. In a statement the council said: "There is an acute housing need in Westminster. The council’s Empty. Properties Strategy is aimed at returning empty residential properties back into use at the earliest opportunity for the benefit of the community.

"The council is identifying accommodation that is in a sub-standard condition and has stood empty or been put to non-conforming uses for several years."