Mosque plans are rejected by council planners

A CONTROVERSIAL planning application to make significant changes to Stanford-le-Hope's former Methodist Church for use as a mosque, have been rejected by Thurrock Council planning officers in the wake of a significant public protest.

The church and adjoining hall were sold by the incumbent national Methodist Church in 2023 after it was decided they could not afford the work needed to keep the building open.

The building was bought by a newly formed Stanford Education and Cultural Association which described itself as a non-profit making, charitable, democratic, neutral and non-political organisation. The site became known as Stanford Jamme Masjid (Thurrock Muslim Center)

Since taking over, considerable work has taken place within the hall to the rear of the old church building and that has been used for worship, education and cultural events.

The attention turned to the original church building with detailed plans for change outlined in the application.

The council received 420 public comments on its planning portal, of which 384 presented a range of objections against it with 35 supporting changes to the historic High Street building.

The Methodist Church has served Stanford-le-Hope for more than 150 years

Officers say some of the changes detailed in the application are unacceptable and cause harm to the character of the building, while the applicants hadn't dealt with potential traffic problems.

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In their response, confirming rejection of the application, officers said 'a proposed external staircase would fail to respect the established form, proportions and architectural character of the former Methodist Church, resulting in harm to the architectural interest and significance of the Non-Designated Heritage Asset'.

In addition the named applicant, Ahmed Choudhury, had failed to provide a unilateral undertaking or s106 Legal Agreement securing the required contribution and mitigation required in order to address the potential traffic and highway impacts resulting from the proposed development.

Council officers said they did not anticipate any traffic problems on the High Street related to the mosque

However, the council's own highways team had originally not offered any objections - as reported in this Thurrock Nub News story in May this year. At the time the application was expected to be determined by June, but a decision by officers took longer than anticipated, possibly in the wake of such substantive local opposition.

Referring to the highways situation and lack of mitigation, the determining officers said: "As a consequence, and in the absence of this agreement and mitigation, the application would be likely to result in harm to the highway network and free flow and movement of traffic in the locality."