Another "controversial" item to chew on

A proposal for a controversial &pound;100 million mosque next to the Olympic Village will be decided by an unelected quango. </p>

A decision on whether it gets the go- ahead will rest not with Newham's elected councillors but with the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation. </p>

Plans by the Muslim sect Tablighi Jamaat to build the mosque have aroused concern as the group has been accused of drawing young men towards an extremist version of Islam. </p>

Although no formal planning application has yet been made, the proposal has stirred up substantial argument. </p>

The public will be consulted - as with other planning applications - but if the corporation approves the proposal there will be no right of appeal. </p>

However, if the quango rejects the scheme Tablighi Jamaat can appeal to the Government. </p>

Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, director of the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity, said: &quot;The corporation has already said that the new mosque will make West Ham a 'cultural and religious destination'. </p>

&quot;This will be nothing less than an Islamic quarter of our capital city. But has anyone asked the people of West Ham? The non-Muslims? The moderate Muslims? The Muslim women?&quot; </p>

Tony Arbour, Conservative spokesman on planning for the London Assembly, said: &quot;For this major decision to be taken by a quango is undemocratic. Local residents have been shut out of the process.&quot; </p>

When the proposal emerged in July it was envisaged that the first phase of the mosque alone would accommodate 10,000 worshippers. </p>

The ultimate number, including visitors, could be as many as 70,000. </p>

Abdul Kalik, the project director, said the mosque was intended as an &quot;Islamic landmark&quot;. </p>

&quot;It will be a long, undulating building borrowing ideas from nomadic structures and tented cities,&quot; he said. </p>

The mosque would be illuminated at night by millions of translucent tiles and surrounded by an &quot;Islamic garden, transposed on to modernday London&quot;, according to the architects Mangera Yvars. </p>

The corporation is a public body, funded by Ruth Kelly's Department for Communities and Local Government. She appoints its independent board of directors. </p>

Newham council confirmed: &quot;The decision will be made by the corporation.&quot; </p>

Tablighi Jamaat has been described by French intelligence as &quot;an antechamber of fundamentalism&quot;, something the group denies. </p>

Although it has never been implicated in any act of terror, two of the 7/7 bombers, Mohammad-Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, regularly visited its headquarters in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. It has close links with the Wahhabi fundamentalist strand of Islam practised by the Saudi royal family. </p>

Applications which go to the corporation instead of the local council include those for 50 or more houses and flats, large developments of more than 2,500 square metres of f loor space or one hectare, development on green belt or &quot;metropolitan open land&quot; and transport infrastructure.</p>

 

The decision being taken by unelected body is terrible. But then again the elected bodies can't be trusted anyhow. In Barnsley the just claim 'our hands are tied' as a nice little get out. So what difference it actually makes I dont know.

 

Good idea, that should stop any chance of Muslim terrorists attacking

the Olympic Village as it would be a crime against Islam.

 

It could double up as the velodrome.