Residents outraged over London Colney mosque approval

9:55pm Monday 8th February 2010

By Alexandra Barham

RESIDENTS of London Colney were left incensed tonight when a controversial application to site a mosque in the village was approved by a planning committee, with police officers on hand to oversee the heated meeting.

The controversial application to convert Cemex House into an Islamic centre was given the green light, despite strong opposition from residents, citing parking, traffic issues, road safety and noise as prime objections. An almost identical application was rejected by the same committee in November last year.

While members of the Muslim community celebrated their victory, tempers flared among the hoards of residents who turned out in force to hear the committee vote on the application to temporarily convert the use of the building for a period of up to three years.

As the discussion was brought to a close one resident muttered: "This is a big mistake" while another branded the decision "ridiculous". One resident who grew up in the village but did not want to be named told the Review after the meeting: "There needs to be a serious internal review of the district council. This application stinks." Another female resident claimed the people of London Colney had been trampled on.

The meeting took an unexpected course when cabinet member for planning Councillor Chris Brazier, who had opposed the previous application, opted to withdraw from the discussion after allegations he had demonstrated a personal prejudice on the matter.

St Albans Civic's Society's Peter Trevelyan acting for the applicants argued that planning officer Alan Moorhouse had been silenced on the issue for similar reasons ahead of the original application.

Members of the Bangladeshi community, who attended to hear the decision, had applied to change the use of Cemex House in Barnet Road, close to Riverside Industrial Estate, to accommodate up to 50 worshippers for three years.

Although the main prayer hall will hold 300 people, residents fear in practice there will be many more than indicated in the application and that numbers could not be controlled.

After hearing representations from both parties at tonight's plans south committee meeting, chairman Geoff Harrison used his casting vote to approve the application, prompting tears of joy from some members of the the Muslim community.

The bid follows years of failed attempts to establish a mosque in the village to serve the Muslim community, who currently congregate at the Morris Playing Fields Pavilion.

Fahim Karim, chairman of London Colney’s Islamic Centre, said: "We are very pleased, it was a fair decision, by giving us three years permission we can prove the numbers.

"We will work with the community and prove to our community that what we said in our application we mean. We will look after our community, not just the Muslim community but in the wider sense, and we will look after our neighbours.

"This means a lot to us. We have been trying for the last ten years and eventually we have three years permission granted.

"For the last ten years we have been praying in a small room every Friday. Now we can have our own place."