Mormons hoping to build first new temple in UK for 30 years – and it is set for the West Midlands
The first new Mormon temple in the UK for 30 years is to be built in Sutton Coldfield.
It comes as part of the goal of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormons' official name, to have temples across the UK.
A national report says planning permission has yet to be granted, but the church hopes construction will begin this year and take up to three years to complete.
The temple will be the Mormons’ third in the UK. The first temple, in Newchapel, near Lingfield, Surrey, opened in 1958, and a second opened in 1998 in Chorley, Lancashire.
The new temple, to be built on the site of an existing Mormon church, was “part of a programme of building temples around the world at increasing speed, to make them more accessible to members”, said Elder Martin Turvey, a church leader and spokesperson.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has attracted controversy over the years including its prohibition on same-sex couples, and its historical endorsement of polygamy.
The Mormons, whose headquarters are in Salt Lake City in the US state of Utah, has more than 16 million members worldwide.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was founded by Joseph Smith in New York state in the US in 1830. After a revelation, he published the Book of Mormon. From the start, the church sent missionaries to win converts. Smith himself was imprisoned more than 30 times for his faith.
Mormon missionaries arrived in the UK in 1837. According to the church’s website, more than 52,000 converts emigrated from Britain in the 19th century to join the main body of the church in the US. By 1870, nearly half of all of Utah’s population consisted of British immigrants.
