Dudley Mosque: Leaders vow to keep fighting
Muslim leaders have vowed to hold fresh talks with the community before pursuing their fight to build a new mosque in Dudley.
They have hit out at political leaders in the borough after claims the Dudley Muslim Association had taken a 'hostile approach' to negotiations.
Dudley Muslim Association say the community had pledged cash to the mosque project at a time of financial hardship in the economy.
Association leaders today remained uncertain whether to join a proposed action group to thrash out more talks with the council.
The action group, formed of councillors and the mosque's leadership, would look at sites other than that proposed off Hall Street to report back by the end of the year.
It came after Dudley Council's cabinet formally refused a £325,000 offer by the DMA to the council to settle the matter out of court on Monday.
If the settlement offer from the DMA had been accepted, the group would have retained ownership of the site and the council would have ended its bid to invoke its buy-back clause.
But now the row appears destined to return to the High Court for a fresh hearing in October in a bid to end the dispute.
Dudley Central Mosque treasurer M. Ammar Khan, who is a member and spokesman for the DMA, spoke of the organisation's disappointment.
"We are very disappointed," he said. "We will look into the action group after consultation with the community and take advice and then a decision can be made on the matter.
"The Dudley Central Mosque and the Dudley Muslim Association are working together in this case.
"The scrutiny committee and cabinet knew the date of the High Court hearing before making a decision over the action group and that it would make its findings by the end of the year.
"I think that this action group is is just a delaying tactic."
He added: "The party leaders at the meeting were praising each other and it seems finally found common ground.
"But I felt that a decision had already been made before the meeting."
Mr Khan said: "Hard working members of the community and Dudley Muslim community have struggled to find the money to create something for the benefit of the community.
"We have never had a hostile approach.
"If we had been hostile why would we have been prepared to take part in mediation over this."
Plans to build the mosque have polarised opinion in Dudley.
Three far-right groups have already marched in the town just this year, with another protest expected to take place in September.
