Nod for Mosque brings despair (From Dudley News)
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Nod for Mosque brings despair
2:30pm Wednesday 5th August 2009 in News
A computer generated version of how the £18m mosque is expected to look.
THE leader of Dudley Council says she is “very disappointed” after a High Court judge rejected their appeal against an £18m mosque.
Sitting at Birmingham Civil Justice Centre, Judge Mr Justice Wyn Williams granted outline planning permission to Dudley Muslim Association's plans to build the mosque and community, training and enterprise centre (CTEC) on derelict land in Hall Street.
Dudley Council lodged the High Court appeal to challenge the lawfulness of the Planning Inspector’s decision, following a week long inquiry in June last year.
A year ago, the government inspector granted permission alongside a long list of conditions for the DMA to abide by, which included carrying out a detailed report to ensure the community facilities –which are set to include a sports hall, community hall, crèche, fitness suite, seminar rooms, information technology suites, lecture theatre, workshops, administration spaces, café and exhibition area – were accessible to the whole community.
However, council officials argued a condition to ensure these facilities would be wholly accessible would be impossible for them to enforce.
The council also believe the Hall Street site is still prime industrial land for the town.
The latest decision has once again been met with a mixed response from readers, who have been posting messages on our website since the ruling was made.
And speaking after the decision, the leader of the council, Councillor Anne Millward, said it was a sad day for democracy.
She added: “I am very disappointed with the ruling. I think it is a sad day for democracy when nine elected members were completely over-ruled by a unelected quango in Bristol.
“Just what is the government agenda? How can they say power should be delivered by the local communities, when the local communities said ‘no’ to the plans and representatives of that local community said ‘no’ as well.”
However, Cllr Millward confirmed council officers were now looking at the buy back clause, which was agreed at the time of the original deal.
Under the covenant, DMA leaders agreed that if the mosque and community centre was not substantially built by December 31, last year, then they would have to vacate the property and the council could buy back the land at the original cost plus inflation.
Cllr Millward said: “Our officers are now looking at the details of the covenant, but we have to ask ourselves the question, were we any way responsible for causing that hold up?
“Although we also have to throw back the question at the DMA and ask if they can still go ahead with the scheme and do they actually have the £18m available to pay for it?”
Despite numerous attempts by the News to contact representatives from Dudley Muslim Association over the last week, no one was available for comment.
Let us know your views by posting a comment below.
Comments(20)
purrfect
says...
10:31am Thu 6 Aug 09
Pomegranate
says...
7:00pm Thu 6 Aug 09
Why does a minority population of about 1.5 million Muslims suddenly (in the last few years) require a mosque practically on every street corner AND a series of 'super' mosques which are clearly designed to dominate the skyline of the town in which they're being built?
Most Muslims only go to mosque for Friday prayers and on special occasions such as Eid. So why is there a need for this proliferation of mosques?
Who is funding these hugely expensive mosques at a time when the connection between mosques and radicalisations has been made time and again? Extremist Saudi sects with money to burn by any chance?
And before anyone starts with the racism/anti Muslim card, let me say I am Asian and Muslim.
I am also deeply worried about the extremist political agenda behind this tidal wave of 'Islam' (which has virtually nothing to do with spirituality or God) engulfing the Muslim communities in this country and the country as a whole.
Dudley doesn't need a super mosque nor does any British town. There are precious few super' mosques in Pakistan a country that was created in the name of Islam and has a population of 125?million
Mosques that already exist up and down this country need to be regulated and monitored to rid them of the mass of financial corruption and political extremism that blights so many of them.
It has nothing to do with racism (Islam is not a race) or tolerance. It is about common sense and reality of a the world' political situation.
seriously
says...
12:27pm Fri 7 Aug 09
lion suddenly becomes available? I love to see proof that this can be funded. Quote "Islamic practice means mosques can only be built
with money donated by Muslims, and not with public
funds. It would be against Islamic principles to
accept donations from elsewhere in any form."
Also they keep talking about how this is going to help intergration...don't make me laugh it will do nothing of the sort!!! Alum Rock Road is a prime example...
Lets hope this doesn't happen....
Pomegranate
says...
1:21pm Fri 7 Aug 09
Alum Rock Road is a prime example...
Lets hope this doesn't happen...
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97 per cent of imams, or leaders, were from overseas and 92 per cent were educated abroad, mostly in Pakistan or Bangladesh. Britain's mosques are run by men who are physically in Britain, but psychologically in Pakistan. They retain their village rituals and sectarianism, and prevent the growth of an indigenous British Islam. By importing cheap imams from poor, intellectually deprived and theologically conservative places mosques put young Britons in the hands of men who do not have the linguistic or cultural backgrounds to deal with modern Britain. Little wonder, then, that many young Muslims turn to radical university Islamic societies, extremist websites, and Hamas-supporting groups in Britain for “religious guidance”.
Robert Langley
says...
10:07am Sat 8 Aug 09
nds.com If no access to the website local information facilities will be able to help with information in many languages.
Can I also add that there is inadiquate parking facilities in the area and that there is already problems near another venue near Top Church where coaches and cars park on double yellow lines and cause chaos in order for people to use this venue. I feel that the building of the mosque will kill Dudley shopping/visitiors altogether. The proposed land should be used for regeneration of light industry or office buildings. We should be proud of the Black Country and what it stands for which has been built up over hundreds of years of hard work and dedication.
Pomegranate
says...
2:31pm Sat 8 Aug 09
Dudley Bloke
says...
8:57pm Mon 10 Aug 09
Don't despair Dudley folk, I know apathy and despair has been forced on us from people who have never set foot in the Heart of the Blackcountry, so how are they suppose to know how proud we are of our Dudley Town.
Blood, Sweat and Tears have made Dudley the way it is, so don’t let a few quangos stop your fight to keep our Historic Dudley Ridge from being overpowered by a statement of intent, many Towns and communities in the British isles have been swamped by these large buildings for the sake of a minority, we must not let one be built anywhere near the Ridge of Dudley.
So don’t give up, if they did not take any notice of nearly 50,000 Dudley folk perhaps they will take notice of 100,000, get writing to your MP, your local paper and sign the petitions going round to tell the Government quangos we do not want a large Baghdad style building in Dudley.
s-harry
says...
3:06pm Tue 11 Aug 09
someone else wrote(pomegranate) that why muslims needs a mosques in just in the last few years thats not true did you know that the first mosque was built in 1889 in woking and i can tell you one thing more than half the people do not know where the mosque will be built in dudley.
there are lots of beautiful churches that i have seen in pakistan while i was there i am sure you can see picture in internet if you type in churches in pakistan.
dudley mosque is a former church building which is old and probably crumbling down its no good saying we do not want a mosque you can say this is not the right place built it somewhere in dudley lots of mosque in britain but not many are purpose built either old churches or corner street house they already have a mosque in dudley i still do not know what the problem is.
phil1958
says...
4:00pm Tue 11 Aug 09
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Anglicanism portal
The Church of Pakistan is a united church in Pakistan, which is part of the Anglican Communion and a member church of the World Methodist Council. It was established in 1970 with a union of Anglicans, Scottish Presbyterians (Church of Scotland), Methodists, and Lutherans. It is the only United Church in the South Asia which involves the Lutheran Church. Though united, it is mainly Anglican in theology and outlook, since from the beginning Anglicans formed the bulk of the 800,000 strong congregation and most of the important Sees.
Despite the presence of this official body, Christians in Pakistan have been the victims of significant persecution because of their religion on a local level in the 20th century. Its most internationally famous clergyman, Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, formerly diocesan bishop of Raiwind in West Punjab, was given sanctuary by Robert Runcie, the then-Archbishop of Canterbury when his life was imperilled; he then taught at Oxford and is currently the bishop of Rochester, England.so it appears christians arnt liked in pakistan
purrfect
says...
10:09pm Tue 11 Aug 09
individuality can be stifled by a remote hierarchy in any organisation ordinary people may have to swim with the tide out of fear of rejection the ideas of individuals who question the status quo can sometimes be seen as rebellious rather than a source of innovative discussions and perhaps positive change
big organisations / groups build big towering buildings
do they have a positive or negative effect?
neil53
says...
12:34pm Wed 12 Aug 09
,000 has already been mentioned in connection with the "initial" costs for this building.
neil53
says...
12:54pm Wed 12 Aug 09
Could I encourage people in Dudley, including ALL councillors, to actually read an Enlish translation of the Qu'ran and to peruse for themselves the encouragement given to believers almost on every other page to carry out similar acts?
Read it first and then you can shout at me...
neil53
says...
4:27pm Wed 12 Aug 09
Even at this time ( and despite this money), Dudley Muslim Association had promised that the project which then included a large mosque, sports hall,fitness room, health clinic and computer centre would be exclusively funded by Muslims.
Perhaps Khursid Ahmed, who is or was the Chairman of Dudley Community Partnership, is or was a commissioner for the Commission for Racial Equality and a promoter of the new mosque could enlighten the people of Dudley?
neil53
says...
6:02pm Wed 12 Aug 09
At the same time, Khursid Ahmed continued his claim that the taxpayer would not pay for the mosque itself.
Khurshid Ahmed is or was the Chairman of the Local Strategic Partnership in Dudley. He was chair of Dudley North constituency Labour Party and is chair of the British Muslim Forum among other positions.
Such a well-connected man should explain clearly what is going on to all sections of the Dudley community .
neil53
says...
10:09am Thu 13 Aug 09
How much of this taxpayers' money will be going to the mosque or has already just been handed over ( with no checks).
The lack of openness of Dudley Council on this matter means we shall probably never know....
neil53
says...
3:21pm Thu 13 Aug 09
neil53
says...
8:59am Fri 14 Aug 09
This could have been anything from £5,000 to £50,000.
Perhaps Dudley Mosque can ( for the benefit of all taxpayers nationally) present accounts to show exactly what happened to this money, whatever the amount?
Again, was the money just "handed over" to the mosque without any outside independent supervision?
Pomegranate
says...
7:12pm Fri 14 Aug 09
I developed two personalities, two worlds, two allegiances: one at “English school” and another at the mosque. I was torn, confused and full of questions. But what now? Two decades on, surely Britain's Muslims are in a better place.
Today, there are between 1,200 and 1,600 mosques in Britain. The Charity Commission sought to gloss over the malaise in them by publishing figures on attendance, but not inquiring into difficult areas. At Quilliam, Britain's first counter-extremism think-tank, we commissioned a poll of more than 1,000 mosques in 2008, during Ramadan when mosques are busiest. Despite employing Urdu and Bengali-speaking researchers, we could poll only just over 500. Most British mosques don't maintain a reception or service to answer questions, and not every one we did reach was willing to answer.
I think the building of this Mosque in Dudley is being persued by stubborn muslims who should give way to the people whom have lived their for hundreds of years. The sole purpose is to dominate the skyline of the 'Black-Country' that's only my opinion of course.
Pomegranate
says...
7:29pm Fri 14 Aug 09
As this generation of imams and elders eventually move aside, who will take their place? Of the 27 or so Muslim seminaries or dar ul uloom in Britain, 25 come from the austere, Deobandi tradition - the preferred school of the Taleban. So while British soldiers risk their lives in Afghanistan, in British Muslim seminaries we allow the teaching of intolerance, unequal treatment of women, religious rigidity, the banning of music and theatre, and an end to free mixing of the sexes.
At these seminaries, medieval textbooks are still taught without any reference to context. Graduates of these highly conservative madrassas have taken up nearly 100 posts as chaplains in our prisons. Soon, they will move into mosques as English-speaking imams, without any understanding of British values of liberty, tolerance and pluralism.
How long will we tolerate this underworld in Britain?
Two years ago the Government established a Mosques and Imam National Advisory Board and included Hamas supporters to win over radicals. What has it achieved? Large numbers of British mosques are not properly registered with the Charity Commission, imams work with children without Criminal Record Bureau checks, and mosque buildings flout health and safety regulations. Would other schools or churches get away with this?
More than three years after the July 7 bombings, where are the citizenship classes in mosques? Or the English-language teaching for foreign imams? With such problems on our doorstep, as a community we are still focused on British policy in Palestine and Iraq at the expense of our children's education, gender apartheid at mosques, and inadequacies in language, safety and leadership. Labour politicians are only too keen to campaign for the Muslim vote in mosques in Blackburn, Manchester and Bradford while turning a blind eye to the failure that surrounds their constituents. For how much longer?
purrfect says...
10:29am Thu 6 Aug 09