COMMUNITY leaders in the Ribble Valley today welcomed news that local Muslims are to be allowed to use the borough's council chamber for Friday prayers.
Ribble Valley Council has given the go-ahead to use its Clitheroe council chamber for Friday worship from next month. Plans to site a mosque at the back of an Islamic Education Centre in Holden Street, Clitheroe, were refused in 1998, 2000 and 2002 on the grounds of traffic and noise disturbance. The last was upheld on appeal by a Government planning inspector this year.
Council bosses have agreed to the use of the chamber as an interim measure.
Ribble Valley Council chief executive Dave Morris said: "The council chamber is available for use by all sections of the community in line with our objective of working towards the social well-being of Ribble Valley residents." Sheraz Arshad, secretary of the Islamic Education Centre, which is leading the bid for Ribble Valley's first mosque, said he was grateful to the council.
Malcolm Blackburn, a lay reader at St James's Church, Clitheroe, and co-ordinator of the Ribble Valley Race Equality Charter, said: "Everyone has a right to a place of worship and this is a move in the right direction for Clitheroe Muslims."
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