Mosque leaders’ fears on deadline

Muslim leaders in Dudley today called for a deadline extension to build an £18 million mosque and training centre in the town, amid fears it may not be built in time.

See also:Your comments: Mosque gets go-ahead after appeal

The project has to be “substantially” built by the end of the year under terms agreed in a land swap deal.

But leaders fear they will not have enough time to meet the conditions. If an extension is not granted, the long-running battle to build the mosque complete with 65 feet minaret could end up in court.

Dudley Muslim Association this week won an appeal for the plan to go ahead following a public inquiry, despite a protest from campaigners who created a 22,000-signature petition.

Secretary of the association, Mushtaq Hussain, said leaders would hold talks with the council and ask for a “reasonable” amount of time to complete the project.

“We want to keep an open mind but if the council does not back down we will look at other avenues.”

Mr Hussain said the association would now finalise detailed plans for the mosque. “The maximum capacity of the mosque will be 600 but we certainly wouldn’t expect that many people to be there at the same time,” he said.

He confirmed that 112 jobs would be created.