Solihull Council Refuses Cemetery On Green Belt Land.

News has reached us this evening that the Solihull Council Planning Committee , have voted 9 to 1 to refuse a muslim only cemetery application for a site in leafy Cathererine-De-Barnes. It`s the first of two applications on adjoining sites to create an 11,000 plot cemetery.  The village (which has a population of just 613) faced the prospect of a facility which could eventually hold over 18 times as many people as currently live in the village itself.

The application for 4,000 plots plus buildings was presented to the committee by the case Officer John Hallam , who was recommending refusal for the following issues :-

• Green Belt Policy
• Landscape & Visual Amenity
• Highways
• Neighbour Amenity
• Ecology
• Trees and Hedgerows
• Environmental / Groundwater Issues
• Airport Issues.

There were also objections from local residents , the Highways Agency , West Midlands Police , two of the local parish councils and the Environment Agency. We`ve never seen such a strong case for refusal , and the decision comes as no surprise. A local resident hit the nail on the head ” Solihull council should not be promoting segregation in life , or in death ”

The second of the two applications (for 7,000 plots) is due to face the same committee in November or December. The smart money says that the applicants will withdraw the application.

Congratulations to the local residents whose hard work defeated this application. People power !!

SECONDS OUT……Round 2 to follow.

Grantham Eyesore Refused.

Some fantastic news  just in from Grantham in Lincolnshire.

An application to build a community centre with car parking, landscaping and fencing has been refused by Planning Officers. As you can probably guess , it was more mosque than community centre  and thankfully the council were not fooled. The Grantham Muslim Community Association wanted to build the centre on Mowbeck Way near the waste and recycling centre.

In March  this year Mark Williets, head of development and growth at SKDC said ” It’s quite clear the application was made describing the building as a community centre  ,but a recent travel plan received last month is talking about a place of worship and these are very different things in planning terms.

It was yet another application on commercial/industrial land , with the obvious health and safety problems .Planning officers said the details submitted in the plan were inadequate especially with regard to public and pedestrian safety and car parking facilities :-

Lorries And Worshipers Don`t Mix !

A  council spokesman added ” A community use in such close proximity to established commercial uses is likely to result in conflict between future occupiers of the community centre and exisiting commercial operations.”

There are clear instructions to local authorities in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)… “Planning policies should avoid the long term protection of sites allocated for employment use where there is no reasonable prospect of a site being used for that purpose”. Clearly in this case there is every prospect that this land is viable for commercial use , since it lies in a busy industrial estate.

Local residents opposed the plan because it was close to homes and said access to the site was inadequate. Councilor Jean Taylor, who represents St John’s ward, said: “I am sure that all of the residents who live around the area will be extremely delighted. It has been 10 months of lobbying on behalf of the residents and they have been concerned about parking problems and more traffic on the streets.We are extremely pleased this has come to a satisfactory conclusion for the residents.”

Good job Grantham !

Return Of The Hypocrites.

After few months away from the news , the much lamented Dudley Supermosque is back on the planners table again !

Dudley (ⁱ/ˈdʌdli/ dud-lee) is a town in the West Midlands county of England located 6 miles (9.7 km) south-east of the city of Wolverhampton and 8 miles (13 km) north-west of the city of Birmingham.

This sorry saga has been going on since 2007 , and has been the cause of millions of public pounds being spent fighting plans that only a small minority of locals want. After a refusal , appeals and two High Court cases a new plan has been submitted. Dudley Council have bent over backwards to try and accommodate the Dudley Muslim Association

The new application is  four linked buildings – a mosque , “enterprise centre” , community centre and a sports hall.  The mosque probably holds about 2,000 worshipers , and the other three buildings all have halls…making the potential capacity over 3,500 worshipers. No problem if you have 1,500 parkings spaces , but they don`t ! Quite how 120 spaces will cope on busy days or festivals is beyond us. God help the locals who live nearby , they`ll be parking in the Town Centre.

A more detailed look at the “enterprise centre” shows that it will only be used a few times every week for meetings and counselling , while the community centre and sports hall seems even less busy. Anyone else thinking that they are merely “overspill” prayer halls.

So who`s paying for the project ? The Dudley Muslim Association are Barelvis…a small sub group of the Sunni branch.  An excellent piece by Paul Austin Murphy reaveals the Barelvi muslims only represent 28.2% of British muslims. A minority within a minority !

http://libertygb.org.uk/v1/index.php/home/root/news-libertygb/6326-some-stats-on-british-muslims?highlight=YTo2OntpOjA7czo0OiJwYXVsIjtpOjE7czo2OiJhdXN0aW4iO2k6MjtzOjY6Im11cnBoeSI7aTozO3M6MTE6InBhdWwgYXVzdGluIjtpOjQ7czoxODoicGF1bCBhdXN0aW4gbXVycGh5IjtpOjU7czoxMzoiYXVzdGluIG11cnBoeSI7fQ==

And since the Barelvis seems to in perpetual conflict with the Deobandi/Wahabbi branch , its clear this project isn`t being funded by Saudi Arabia. So we checked last years accounts for the DMA…they have £76,000 on account. A little short of the £14 million to complete the building. Maybe there`s a hidden mountain of  gold being guarded by a dragon.

It is touching that the DMA want to spend their non existent cash on such a worthy  “community project” , sadly it`s just window dressing to disguise a large mosque development. Designed to become a local landmark , and dominate the skyline next to one of the areas busiest roads. It`s just such a shame that the DMA didn`t show the same compassion in July , when they objected in numbers to an educational facility for disabled children across the road to their current mosque.

We are are relieved to see that local residents are organising a campaign to co ordinate objections and lobby their councilors…we wish them every success.

Fido.