New Leeds Mosque - 400 objections registered

Police watched over a council planning meeting where emotions ran high
over a proposal to create a Muslim-run community and welfare centre.

Officers attended plans panel north and east at Leeds City Council where
members unanimously voted to give the go-ahead to convert the derelict
Lingfield pub in Moortown.

Applicants UKIM, UK Islamic Mission, who bought the site, want to create
a public gym, IT suite, library, training facilities and a prayer room
for up to 70 worshippers.

More than 400 letters of objection were received over traffic,
congestion and noise concerns. Many also expressed fears the centre
would be used exclusively by the Islamic community. The night before the
planning meeting the words "a mosque" were repeatedly daubed on the
exterior of the forlorn building.

In a deputation to the panel, Gavin Boby, of the Law and Freedom
Foundation, said he spoke against the plan on behalf of the Lingfield
community: "Community use is laughable. It is a lie. It is a facility
for a specific sector alone. You will find it will only be used by one
sector."
Asked how many local people he knew would use the centre, Mohammed Arif
of UKIM, said five households. He added that all facilities, including
the "thorn in everyone's side", the prayer room, would be open to
everyone.

The proposed community centre is subject to 21 restrictions, including
opening hours from 8.30am to 10.30pm, or midnight during the month of
Ramadan when visitor numbers can be no more than 65. The building cannot
be used for weddings and must be open to community use.

Mr Arif said: "I am relieved by the result. We are in no mad rush and
need to forge links with the community first."

I know this area well. I knew the Lingfield pub when as a youngster I spent a lot of time with my cousins who lived in the district. This would have been in the late 50's and early 60's. If somebody had suggested a mosque in the area in those days they would have been sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

There is a Facebook page on the opposition to this place HERE

Once a British pub - now an Islamic Centre