Plans to build a mosque in Broughton are set to be approved.
AdvertisementA report to Preston City Council Planning Committee recommends permission is given, subject to car parking requirements being met both on the site itself and along D’Urton Lane in case of overflow parking.
This follows the deferral of the application in July 2021 so the applicant could submit more information about design details, car park plans, and justification for the mosque to be built.
Since then multiple documents have been put forward including proposed floor plans, a car park management plan and a Noise Impact Assessment.
The floor plans show that a ground hall prayer hall will accommodate 248 prayer mats, an ablution room and lobby. On the first floor there will be a multi-purpose hall, adult Quran class room, Mihrab, female ablution room, kitchen and a crèche. On the second floor there will be a relaxation room, meeting room, Islamic library and gallery.
The building itself will be oval shaped and three storeys high, with a flat roof and a 30 metre tall minaret which will be formed from curved precast concrete panels clad in brickwork. The submitted design scheme is the winning design of an International RIBA competition.
Read more: Winning Broughton mosque design announced by Royal Institute of British Architects
The car park will have 150 parking spaces, made up of 10 spaces for staff, 77 car share spaces, 47 standard spaces, four electric vehicle charging points and 12 mobility spaces.
Access to the Broughton mosque will be from the south side of D’Urton Lane, which would be changed to a T-junction with pavements. There will also be pedestrian access from the footpath on James Towers Way leading up to the site.
A 3m shared cycle/footway up to the junction with the D’Urton Lane through-route is proposed, as is the addition of double yellow lines.
To justify the need for a mosque in the area, a map of households and a list of addresses of expected local attendees has been submitted.
A study to find the number of households aligned to the Muslim faith identified 311 households in the immediate local area for which the proposed mosque would be their closest aligned place of worship.
Planning Committee will meet on Thursday 3 February to discuss the report, which can be viewed on the Preston City Council website.
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