RIBBLE Valley Borough Council has turned down once again the application by the Muslims of Clitheroe to build a small mosque in our town.

The pretext was the alleged prior need to provide more sheltered accommodation for the aged, whereas the chief executive's report to the policy and finance committee, of which each councillor held a copy, stated in paragraph 7.6 that 13 bungalows for elderly people could be provided on the site whether the mosque was also built or not.

This was so because the area of land available was not the limiting factor: mosque and accommodation were not alternatives; both could be built.

The point was made clearly at the meeting by Councillor Sutcliffe and confirmed, equally clearly, by the chief executive. It was ignored by the ruling party who summarily threw out the application, to the applause of the supporters of the British National Party, congregated outside the chamber.

We write as Roman Catholics who believe that the desire to worship God is rooted in human nature and that it is one of the basic functions of civil society to allow men and women to satisfy this need in their own way, provided that it is not socially disruptive.

Until the Relief Act of 1778, Roman Catholics, too, were forbidden to build a place of public worship in our town. We are glad and grateful that we now have a church in which we are free to worship God as seems fitting to us, and until this right is extended to our Muslim neighbours we are ashamed to be represented by the majority party on this borough council.

PETER and BRIGID HARDWICK, Waddington Road, Clitheroe.