A PROPOSED new mosque in the Ribble Valley will serve the needs of the whole community, according to one of the leading figures behind the project.

Plans have been lodged to convert a former Methodist church on the corner of Lowergate and Highfield Road in Clitheroe into a worship and community centre that would provide the town's 300-strong Muslim community with a much-needed place for prayer.

These plans are the latest stage in a 30-year planning saga surrounding proposals for an Islamic faith centre in the Ribble Valley. Sheraz Arshad, secretary of the Medina Islam Education Centre based in Holden Stree, which is behind the plans, said the development would benefit scores of people in the town.

Speaking for the first time about the project, the 31-year-old father of three, who lives in Moor Lane, said he wanted a facility to serve the needs of Muslim worshippers and other community groups.

He said: "I'm as British and Clitheronian as anybody else.

"I was born and raised here but I grew up with without a place to pray and now my kids are growing up without one.

"This is not being done by the Muslim community in isolation - it involves people from other communities.

"It will be an area for different faith backgrounds to come together and understand each other and there spiritual affiliations.

"It's an extension of what we believe our faith is encouraging us to do.

"We are doing it because we believe people should relate with each other and it's about our desire to have different faiths and cultures come together - that's what we want to achieve."

If the plans are approved, the three-storey building would see the ground floor converted in to a general meeting place while the middle level will become a place of prayer.

The top floor would be converted in to an area for different community groups to use, in particular the multi-faith scout group that Mr Arshad is involved with.

Supported by the Clitheroe Inter Faith Partnership which is made up of different religious groups from the Ribble Valley, Mr Arshad sought to alleviate people's concerns about the physical impact the development would have on the site and the town's character.

He added: "There wouldn't be any change to the building, which I know people are worried about.

"We are of the view that we don't believe it's good to have eastern architecture in a western landscape.

"A dome or minaret might look beautiful in Turkey but not in Clitheroe. There is no intention to change it and then people should be able to benefit from the project.

"If people have concerns they should raise them with us. By not doing so that's how extremism develops when you think something is what it isn't. That can breed intolerance. "