Islamic group to lose battle to build new mosque in London

An Islamic group is set to lose a long-drawn battle to build a new 290,000-square-foot "mega mosque" here as authorities said the building was too large and would prevent a mixed-use neighbourhood, according to a media report.
Tablighi Jamaat's so-called mosque with 190-foot minarets near the Olympic Park in east London would have accommodated up to 9,300 worshippers in two main gender-segregated prayer halls and a further 2,000 in a separate hall.
The scheme, officially known as the Abbey Mills Markaz or the Riverine Centre, was rejected by the local Newham council of the area back in December 2012 with councillors saying the building was too large and would harm their plans for a mixed-use neighbourhood.

But Tablighi Jamaat appealed, taking the application to a three-week public inquiry last year. The inquiry inspector's report was submitted to the UK government in January this year.
'The Sunday Telegraph' has quoted sources saying that UK communities secretary Greg Clark has now made the final decision to block the scheme and a public announcement is expected shortly.
Alan Craig, a former Newham councillor who led the campaign against the mosque, said: "This is fantastic news. For a decade and a half, Tablighi Jamaat has pulled out every stop to get its way, but at last the spectre is over."

Tablighi Jamaat already has a temporary mosque for 2,500 worshippers on the site, a former chemical works, which it has owned since 1996.

It originally produced plans for a new mosque with a capacity of 40,000, but scaled them back under a wave of protest.
In 2013, the High Court ordered the sect to close the temporary mosque because it did not have planning permission.
It has so far refused to do so. Tablighi Jamaat is an ultra-conservative and separatist group which believes that Muslims should not integrate into non-Muslim society.
Its current UK headquarters, in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, includes a school whose pupils are banned from watching television, playing music or speaking to outsiders, the report said.

The Newham mosque was to have been its new headquarters, with residential facilities, a library, visitor centre and sports centre as well as the mosque.
Tablighi Jamaat's has been accused of links with radicalism and terrorism which are hotly disputed, with many experts saying it is peaceful and non-political.