New inquiry into planned London mega mosque
A PROPOSED mega-mosque in east London could get the go-ahead next month, a year after construction on the 10,000-capacity building was halted.
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has the final decision on whether the controversial centre can be built, following an inquiry, which is set to begin on 3 June.
Last May, the London Borough of Newham found the Anjuman-E-Islahul-Mislimeen Trust guilty of years of breaches in planning conditions, and took an injunction out again using the Abbey Mills Riverine Centre in West Ham.
The trustees are now appealing against this rejection of their planning application.
The inquiry will last for up to three weeks, being held at the ExCel Exhibition Centre in London Docklands, and Mr Pickles will then give the final decision, based on a report by the Planning Inspector.
The site has been owned by the Trust since 1996, and they have been using it as a 2,500-capacity building, known as London Markaz.
They planned to build an extension, though, originally planning to cater for a staggering 70,000 Muslims.
But in 2012 these plans were denied following concerns about the size of the Mosque, which had already been scaled down to facilitate 10,000 people.
The group, a Muslim sect called Tablighu Jamaat, is known for fundamentalism and were described by Imam Dr Taj Hargey of the Muslim Education Centre in Oxford as ‘sexist and supremacist’.
The site of the proposed development is in Canning Road, West Ham, covering 6.3 hectares where a chemicals factory once stood.
A survey conducted before the planning permission application was submitted found there was a ‘considerable’ shortage of worship venues for followers of Islam in the area.
Under the latest plans, the mosque has been scaled back and includes a segregated space for nearly 2,000 women.
Architects say the main complex measures 165 metres by 140 metres with a floor space of 20,000 square metres. That is almost the equivalent of three football pitches.
A decision is expected by the end of June.