At a planning committee meeting next week, councillors are being urged to approve plans for a new landmark mosque at a busy motorway junction.

The meeting, to be held by Preston City Council on February 3, will discuss the vacant land to the south of D'Urton Lane, Preston, and recommend approval for a new place of worship and associated parking facilities right next to junction 32 of the M6.

The recommendation for approval is to be subject to a Section 106 obligation being secured relating to the management of car parking on and around the site, and parking restrictions along D’Urton Lane should the proposed development result in overflow parking on D’Urton Lane.

The application site relates to an area of vacant grassland formerly occupied by the construction compound for the Broughton Bypass, extending to 0.89 hectares, at the western end of D’Urton Lane.

Winning design revealed for new super Mosque at heart of Lancashire

To the east of the site is sparse and intermittent, small-scale residential development.

To the north of the site, is D’Urton Lane incorporating the Guild Wheel.

The application site is located within the open countryside and sits in an elevated position.

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At its meeting on July 8 last year, 2021 the planning committee decided to defer the application so that the applicant could submit further information which would address the insufficient car park management information.

The application now seeks outline approval for access, appearance, layout and scale for the new mosque and associated parking facilities.

The application form confirms the place of worship will be used as a mosque and the vehicular access to the site will be provided from the existing access on the south side of D’Urton Lane which would be amended to form a T-junction with pedestrian access either side of the access.

The proposed car park will comprise of 150 parking spaces, including 10 spaces for staff, 77 car share spaces, 47 standard spaces, 4 electric vehicle charging points and 12 mobility spaces.

The proposed building is to be an oval shaped, three-storey building with a flat roof, including a minaret which will be formed from curved precast concrete panels clad in brickwork, and will have a maximum height of 12 metres and the minaret would have a height of 30 metres.

The building is to have uniform, triangular glazing to the perimeter façade with a larger triangular opening in the north elevation to be used as the entrance to the place of worship.

The design was selected from hundreds of submissions made to a International Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) competition last year.

When planning permission for the new mosque was first submitted, a number of objections were received by the council, including from Broughton Parish Council, the RT Hon Ben Wallace MP, and 427 letter of obection from neighbouring residents.

However, more than 600 letters of support were received for the plans.

A number of representations were also received which were racist in nature and have therefore not been reported or considered.

In any event such inappropriate comments are not material planning considerations.

The proposed building hopes to draw together Islamic tradition with a modern twist on Victorian mill design.

Not only will the unique and innovative design create an attractive and distinctive building, it will provide a strong identity for Preston and the local communities within it.