UK: Plans for immense east London mosque rejected

British authorities have rejected a nearly two-decade application and appeal process for the construction of a massive new mosque in east London.

The proposed 9,000-capacity Riverine Centre mosque, planned by the Muslim missionary group Tablighi Jamaat, would have been built on a 17-acre site near the Olympic Park in Stratford, and would have included a massive dining hall and library, The Guardian reports.

The Muslim group’s final appeal against the local Newham council’s refusal to grant it planning permission was rejected last week by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

“The decision was based on concerns that include local housing provision and conflict with the council’s local plan for the borough,” the department said.

The mosque’s construction clashed with local government plans to develop over 1,100 homes and 15,000 square meters (161,000 square feet) of retail, office and community space, according to the Guardian.

“The [Muslim] trust now has three months to cease the use of the site as a place of worship and clear the site they have been unlawfully using for two decades,” a statement from the Newham council said in response to the decision.

Authorities said the mosque’s planners could not justify the scale of the complex based on local need or attendance figures.

But the mosque’s construction also attracted resistance from many locals concerned about a growing Muslim population in the area.

A 2007 petition against the mosque that said it represented “the Christian population of this great country England” drew 250,000 signatures.

Tablighi Jamaat has used temporary buildings at the site for prayers while it sought permission over the past 18 years to build the permanent building. That use of the site, which the Newham council deemed “unlawful,” must end within three months, the department decision said.