MUSLIM leaders are celebrating after council bosses passed controversial plans for a mosque on the site of a former Methodist church and factory.

Around 100 people packed a meeting of Ribble Valley Council's planning and development committee to hear the decision last night.

Councillors voted eight-five in favour of the plans for the Mount Vale building, formerly Lappit Manufacturing, Lowergate, Clitheroe.

It will be turned into a place of worship and community partnership centre by the Medina Islamic Education Centre, based in Holden Street.

A strong police presence was maintained throughout the meeting amid fears of right wing protests, but officers reported no problems.

Sheraz Arshad, secretary of the Medina centre, which organised a march to the town hall backing the plans before the meeting, said afterwards: "We are very pleased. It has been such a long time coming and it doesn't end here.

"We want to work with the community, it was not just a token gesture. We want to make sure it's a place which benefits all the community."

During the meeting local businessman and supporter of the plans Joe Harding said: "They simply want, indeed need, a place they may call their own to pray in peace.

"Other people have a choice of eight places of worship. But better still, the applicants would open their doors to everyone.

"We must listen to the concerns of those who live near to Mount Vale. But those of us who chose to live in town have accepted some degree of noise."

Members of Clitheroe's 300-strong Muslim community first applied for permission to build a mosque in 1998, then again in 2000 and 2002, at a terraced house in Holden Street, Clitheroe, but were refused.

The refusals, on a variety of planning grounds, were upheld on appeal to the government's planning inspectorate, and in 2004 the group tried to buy council land in Kirkmoor Road, but were turned down by the council.

This decision was criticised by the Local Government Ombudsman.

But local residents opposed the plans for a mosque in Lowergate, arguing it could cause a number of problems including traffic, parking, noise and loss of privacy.

A second application, to demolish sheds at the rear of the same site, was also passed.