On 5 March a new campaign was launched against the proposed 9,500 capacity mega-mosque at West Ham, close to the site of the Olympic Stadium and Park.
At a recent site exhibition, the Islamic sect behind the proposed mosque, Tablighi Jama'at, revealed a development that includes an eight-storey high mosque, 45 metre-high minarets, apartments, and retail and business units. Visitors were informed that the formal planning application is to be submitted imminently.
"People think wrongly that the mosque project is dead but it has never gone away," said Alan Craig, leader of the MegaMosqueNoThanks team and a local Newham resident. "It went off the radar for some months but now it's back."
Last week Tablighi Jama'at started the process of submitting an application for outline planning permission for the mosque to the local planning authorities, Newham Council and the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation.
Tablighi Jama’at
"We intend to inform residents about the separatist, supremacist and sexist nature of Tablighi Jama'at, and the harm this proposed huge new global headquarters mosque at West Ham will do to the local community if it goes ahead," said Alan Craig. "We provide hard evidence for this."
"The spin put out by the mosque's PR agents uses warm buzz words like 'cohesion', 'bring people together' and 'unifying', but that is exactly the opposite of what Tablighi Jama'at does. They are divisive and actively work against integration and social cohesion. They are also deeply sexist."
"They have created an Islamic enclave around their current headquarters mosque in Dewsbury, west Yorkshire," continued Mr Craig. "That's what they teach, that's what they do and we don't want the same here at West Ham."
Last April Tablighi Jama'at were successful in their appeal against an attempt by Newham Council to move them off the site because of the lack of planning permission for their current makeshift mosque buildings and their failure to abide by building regulations.
Temporary planning permission
Planning Inspector Mr Graham Dudley awarded Tablighi Jama'at temporary planning permission for two years during which they could submit a planning application for the huge mosque development. Eleven months later that application process has now started.
"We are not against mosques and we are certainly not against Muslims," said Alan Craig. "But the inappropriate size, the fundamentalist nature of the mosque backers and the proposed creation of a custom-built Islamic enclave are all good reasons to stop this project in its tracks."
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