Plans for mosque will beat council deadline

Detailed plans for a new mosque in?Dudley costing up to £12 million are on the brink of being submitted before a looming deadline, Muslim leaders confirmed today.

Dudley Muslim Association has until July 17 to lodge designs for the building, which would be built in Hall Street.

Chairman Kurshid Ahmed today pledged they would be sent to planners officers before next Sunday's deadline but declined to give details on the scale of the project.

He has previously said the plans for the new mosque and community training and enterprise centre would be scaled down but is still remaining tightlipped on the exact details.

The association has been working with council officers on plans for the scheme since the start of the year.

Mr Ahmed said today: "We will put the application in before the deadline."

Meanwhile Dudley Council is continuing to prepare a High Court case in a bid to buy back the land earmarked for the mosque, citing a clause in the land contract as a reason.

Papers were lodged in December and council spokesman Phil Parker said today the authority was still waiting for a date to be fixed for the court hearing.

Outline plans for the scheme, including a 65ft minaret, were rejected by the council but overturned by the Planning Inspectorate in Bristol in 2008.

A High Court judge later overturned an appeal against the decision by Dudley Council but ruled the Dudley Muslim Association must submit a full planning application by July 2011, which is when outline planning permission for the scheme expires.

The legal bill to halt plans for the new mosque has so far cost the council £58,378.50.

Three petitions opposing the mosque have attracted 60,000 signatures.

Among their reasons are that the site was designated for employment use, the proposed building would not fit in with the medieval character of the town and that the development would create traffic problems.

Council leader Les Jones today said the council would continue to oppose the plans but would "treat the application properly".

He added: "The council's position has not changed."