An £18 million mosque and community centre would be built “within two years” if a Government inspector decides to grant planning permission, an inquiry was told.

Daniel Hatcher, representing the Dudley Muslim Association which is behind the plans which have divided the community, made the claim to inspector Philip Asquith at the hearing yesterday. Mr Asquith asked how quickly the mosque would be built if he were to grant planning permission and whether funding for the multi-million project was in place.

Mr Hatcher replied: “My clients have told me the funding is in place and that, were permission to be granted, building to be complete within 18 months to two years.”

The planning inquiry, an appeal by the Muslim Association against Dudley Council’s decision to refuse planning permission for the scheme in February, was into a fourth day today.

Earlier in the yesterday’s proceedings, two high-profile community figures publicly backed the case for a mosque in the town.

Reverend Tony Attwood, priest in charge at Top Church in the town centre, followed St James’s Church’s Reverend Andrew Wiggans earlier in the week by pledging support for the scheme.

He told the inquiry of the “well established relations” between the main religious groups in Dudley and added: “It is on these grounds that four Church of England clergy working in the town centre area have sought to support the Dudley Muslim Association.”

Earlier in the hearing Mr Anthony Crean QC, speaking for Dudley Council, argued the building of the mosque on Hall Street would rob Dudley of a key industrial site and scores of manufacturing jobs.

But the Dudley Muslim Association maintain their scheme will create 112 jobs and play a crucial role in community cohesion.