Mosque plan in High Court approval

A controversial £18 million Dudley mosque plan has been granted permission in a dramatic High Court ruling.

Dudley Council lost a last-ditch bid to block the scheme when Judge Mr Justice Wyn Matthews upheld a Government inspector's decision to grant outline planning permission.

He rejected Dudley Council's appeal against the inspector's ruling and said a condition that the community centre should be open to all members of the community was fair.

Dudley Council had branded the condition "absurd" and said it would be impossible to enforce.

However the judge said: "It is clear in my judgement that the aim of the condition was and is to ensure that a locally-identified community need was met."

The planning inspector in Bristol had given outline permission for the scheme on condition it was "accessible and available to the whole community".

But the barrister acting for the council Anthony Crean QC told yesterday's hearing: "The council has absolutely no idea what that phrase means as it is so imprecise and also absolutely no idea how to go about enforcing a condition of that nature. The condition fails all three tests - it is imprecise, unenforceable and unreasonable."

The hearing at Birmingham's Civil Justice Centre ended a five-year-saga over plans for the centre in Hall Street. The plan prompted two protest petitions which attracted a total of 50,000 signatures.

Dudley Muslim Association claimed the mosque plan would unite the town's multi-cultural community and create more than 100 jobs. But Dudley council claims the land is a prime industrial site and protesters say the mosque would not fit in with the town's medieval heritage.

Dudley Muslim Association secretary Mushtaq Hussain said: "We were very confident because the inspector in reaching his decision took all the planning issues on board and delivered the decision we always thought was right.

"We have said from day one the facilities will be available for the whole community."

Councillor Malcolm Davis said the council could have blocked the plan by taking back land in Hall Street when the terms of a a land-swap deal expired and the case need not have gone to court.

Dudley's deputy council leader Councillor Les Jones said the decision had "driven a horse and cart through the democratic planning process".