Prospective neighbours of a large mosque planned for West Ham have told
of their concerns surrounding the controversial development.
Residents living close to the site in Canning Road believe it would
completely dwarf the surrounding conservation areas and fail to serve a
mixed community if given the go-ahead.
They say no proper public
consultation has been held to reflect the current plans, which they say
serve almost exclusively one Islamic group -Tabilighi Jamaat - rather
than the whole community.
Mike Duff, a 33-year-old director of an
urban planning consultancy, is among the residents who have put their
objections to the council and mosque backers.
He said: “I worked
for six years in Saudi Arabia and helped At-Turaif, the village where
Wahab Islam, the strictest interpretation of Islam globally, was founded
to achieve Unesco World Heritage Status, so being anti-Muslim is the
furthest thing from my mind. I understand where they are coming from
with regard to practising their religion.
“But the scale of this
mosque is completely unsuitable for this location, I would feel the same
if it was a church of that size.
“The building would dominate
the view from the Greenway and all the listed sites around here such as
Three Mills with the world’s largest surviving tidal mill and the Abbey
Mills Pumping Station.
“The land presents an amazing opportunity
to really regenerate it for the whole of the community. We are not
saying the land owners should not be allowed to practise their faith,
but it should not be at the expense of local residents.”
Kevin
Fitzgerald, a retired sociology university lecturer, fears parking
problems if the plan goes ahead, saying: “Most of the current
worshippers come by car and the idea you can suddenly get most of them
to come by public transport is at best naive.
“No more than the current 300 parking spaces are proposed despite the number of worshippers being multiplied by five. ”
There are also fears the decontamination of the land ahead of building works risk polluting the air and ground water.
Moira
Storey, a 54-year-old academic manager said: “We need assurance from
the planning authorities that an independent examination of the land is
carried out and guarantees are in place to ensure the land will be
properly cleaned and made safe before permission is given.”
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