Blackpool: Noor-A-Madina mosque plan rejected once again

Plans to convert buildings in South Shore into a mosque have been thrown out by councillors once again.

Tasurraf Shah put forward plans to convert units in South Shore, for the Noor-A-Madina mosque. She hoped for approval to be given to change of use of parts of 187-195 Waterloo Road to a mosque and community and education centre. The plans included 26 parking spaces, to be used by the 60 people anticipated to use the mosque, some of which was to be created by demolishing outbuildings.

While similar plans were submitted in 2011, seeking to create three prayer halls and a community room, they were refused on parking and traffic grounds, with 3,000 people signing a petition against the plans.

The recent plans were rejected, at a planning committee meeting on Monday evening at the town hall, on the same grounds. Neighbouring residents and businesses attended the meeting to voice their concerns about parking in the area. But the applicants argued they had shown, and would-be worshippers at the mosque had shown, they parked responsibly when using a rented council facility for prayer while waiting for the planning decision to be made.

Coun David Owen, chairman of the planning committee, said: “We still feel it would not be capable of being accommodated on the site. The layout of the parking is not conventional, which is not satisfactory.”

Blackpool Gazette, 14 August 2014