DAYS AFTER DUDLEY MEGA MOSQUE APPROVED, A FEW MILES AWAY PLANS GO IN FOR ANOTHER NEW MEGA MOSQUE

Stop Islamization now. No More Mosques !!!

Looks like yet another new mosque could be on the cards for the Midlands. Only days ago a controversial planning application for a mega mosque that will dominate the skyline in Dudley was given the go ahead by council planners. Now only a short distance away, Muslims in Smethwick have revealed plans to knock down their own single storey mosque and replace it with an imposing 3 storey mosque complete with meeting rooms, classrooms, IT facilities and prayer rooms among other things.

The area surrounding the mosque is about to benefit from £42 million in public money spent as part of a major regeneration scheme. The planning report for the project says of the single storey former industrial unit which is now the mosque:

“The draft Planning and Design brief for Brindley II highlights the site as being an ‘important focal point’ at the entrance to the development, and that the site is a ‘key opportunity for a major landmark building’.”

Muslims building this brand new mosque with three times as many floors as the current building has a great deal of significance. Being in an important focal point it will become the major landmark building that everybody entering the new canal side village will see. A big mosque that dwarfs the rest of the nearby properties. What kind of signals does that send out? I’ll tell you exactly what it says…….. This is a Muslim area !!!!

Smethwick mosque plan revealed

PUBLISHED: November 13, 2014 9:59 am

A mosque and Islamic centre in Smethwick will be knocked down and rebuilt as a three storey place of worship.

The Masjid and Bangladeshi Islamic Centre, which is based in converted industrial units in Lewisham Road, is a currently one storey building.

Plans are now in the pipeline to knock it down and in its place a golden aluminium fronted building would rise up with facilities including classrooms, an IT suite, gym and a player hall.

The main building will be created from darker brick and concrete with large glass windows on the front.

Officials say the building is split into two parts linked by a central glazed atrium.

Areas for dining, the gym and IT facilities will be accommodated within the brick-built building with circular windows to allow light inside.

Bosses behind the scheme say the second building contains classrooms, meeting rooms, prayer hall and associated washrooms and toilets.

In a report to Sandwell Council, centre leaders say they have consulted with the community as part of the design process.

The decorative gold screen serves several purposes will form part of the outside of the frontage with a nod to Islamic religious and cultural architectural.

Officials at the mosque said the design had been created in light of a major multi-million regeneration scheme planning in Smethwick.

Work is due to start within weeks on the £42 million Brindley Village II regeneration scheme that sits on the nearby canal.

Almost 200 homes and properties would be built in the areas that will include the creation of shops, roads and open spaces created on a 12 acre site around Lewisham Road, Mafeking Road and the Birmingham Mainline canal.

In the report, consultants on behalf of the mosque leaders, said: “The site currently sits between predominantly residential to the north and industrial and cleared land to the south.

“The proposal seeks to respond to the existing local context and the proposed Brindley Village II development, which will significantly change the area with a much greater residential population, and in turn generate more local visitors to the centre.

“The proposal seeks to respond to both existing and future site conditions.

“The draft Planning and Design brief for Brindley II highlights the site as being an ‘important focal point’ at the entrance to the development, and that the site is a ‘key opportunity for a major landmark building’.”

A decision will be taken over the planning application in coming weeks.