CAMBERLEY “MEGA-MOSQUE” APPEAL REJECTED IN UK

Here's a bit of good news for all those people in the UK who are concerned about the insidious creep of Islamic Fundamentalism. Hopefully it heralds a return to Common Sense and the safeguarding of this nation from a future Islamic takeover. No doubt those who support the introduction of Sharia Law and all the horrors that it implies, along with other unacceptable aspects of Islamic Fundamentalism, will protest at this decision, but the truth is that it's a victory for the great majority of people in the UK in terms of protecting their heritage. The following report comes from The Barnabus Fund.

A Muslim group holding extremist views have had their plan to build a huge £3 million mosque in Camberley, England, finally dismissed by local authorities. If the plans had been approved, the mosque would have had two 30-metre minarets overlooking the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and towering above the parade ground and the adjacent St Michael's Church. The proposal raised serious security concerns, especially in view of the frequent royal visits to Sandhurst.

The Victorian school building currently used as a mosque

The Bengali Welfare Association had appealed against the rejection of the plan by Surrey Heath Borough Council in March 2010. The controversial plans to knock down the listed Victorian school currently used as a mosque and build the mega-mosque were initially approved by the council's planning committee.

The Planning Inspectorate last week described the proposed mosque as “little more than a fairly traditional design transposed into Surrey from somewhere in the Near East or the Indian subcontinent” and felt that the design would be inappropriate for the Royal Military Academy Conservation Area on the London Road. Both St Michael’s Church and the school were built on land donated by the former War Office for the benefit of the local community.

The Planning Inspectorate said that the proposed design did not appear to make any concessions to the fact that it was being built in a conservation area and felt that the loss of the existing school building would “not be adequately replaced or reflected in the proposed development”. The Planning Inspectorate also raised the concern that in order to face Mecca the building would have “turned its back on the street” and described the site as “not spacious enough for such a large building to stand within”.