Plans are underway to demolish a Bradford mosque and build a bigger one in its place.
Girlington Muslim Welfare Association (GMWA) wants to tear down its present Durham Road mosque and for the new one to be built next to its current site on green space it bought from Bradford Council.
The new three-storey building would have prayers areas, a mosque school, a computer room, rooms for functions and space for a youth centre, taking the mosque into the 21st century.
The application, submitted to Bradford Council, also seeks permission to create enough parking spaces for 23 cars including some disabled bays. At the moment the mosque has no parking of its own.
The use of the mosque has quadrupled in recent years, according to the mosque’s executive committee, and it now needs the extra room to grow with demand.
GMWA first won planning permission in 2010 to demolish and build its new mosque on the same site as it is now. But after buying the land between it and Girlington Primary School, a new committee set up to mastermind the plans, decided to extend the scheme and carried out wider talks with members, neighbours and the community as a whole.
The planning application says the concept is to “accommodate and facilitate as many of the community’s needs as possible.” The local scouts group has already said it wants to meet there.
If plans get the go ahead it is hoped work could begin next year and should take about 18 months for the stone and dark smoked-glass mosque to be finished.
The bulk of the building would have a flat roof with a parapet wall and a minaret. Funds to pay for the new-build have included fundraising and increasing membership of Girlington Muslim Welfare Association to £1,000.
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