THE future of an £18m mosque and community centre is still unknown as Dudley Council decide to defer any decisions.

At a meeting of the council’s cabinet, members agreed to continue deferring any decision to take back land earmarked for the mosque until after a High Court hearing.

In a report to members, interim chief executive, John Polychronakis said the court hearing is set to be heard in early Spring.

Under the terms of the agreed deal, which was given the go-ahead by the Government’s planning inspector last year, Dudley Muslim Association had to substantially build the mosque and community training and enterprise centre by December 31 2008.

If the building work had not been started, the DMA would have to vacate the property and the council would buy back the site.

But to date, no planning applications have been submitted to the council and now chiefs are appealing the inspectors decision.

The council face increasing pressure from members of the public to exercise the right to buy-back the land at Hall Street, with over 30,000 signatures being submitted to request the land gets purchased back.

The report also states the council had begun “meaningful negotiations” with members of the DMA regarding carrying out possible improvements to the existing Mosque site on the junction of Castle Hill and Birmingham Street.

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