ASIAN community leaders in Blackburn are celebrating today after councillors approved permission to build a new mosque to replace one of the town's oldest mosques.

But they say council guidelines on planning applications discriminate against the Asian community.

Planners had been recommended to refuse the application by the Masjid-E-Tauheed-ul-Islam mosque on Bicknell Street, despite the support of Blackburn MP Jack Straw.

Concerns had been raised that the mosque could cause massive traffic problems. A report by the planning committee points to traffic and parking problems, and the building being too overbearing for the neighbourhood, as grounds for refusal.

The building is 11 metres high while the new building would be 12.8 metres. Modern building standards state a building of that height and bulk should be 27 metres away from nearby houses. The proposed building will be between 10 and 12 metres away.

But the planning committee, which met last night, voted in favour of the development.

The report said: "Any increase in traffic will cause existing problems to become worse and the surrounding roads will become gridlocked. This would have a significant impact on residential amenity and could cause severe problems and delays for emergency services.

"If it is proposed to approve the proposal the developer would have to fund a traffic management scheme for the immediate area."

The applicants denied the mosque would bring with it extra traffic, and despite the fears, local residents have been in favour of the development.

Speaking at last night's meeting, Kam Kothia, vice-president of Masjid-E-Tauheed-Ul-Islam, said: "Ninety per cent of people using the mosque live within 10 minutes walk of it. I find it very difficult to understand where the potential increase in traffic will come from.

"Regular users prefer one near their homes. This is clearly evident because the 11 parking spaces we have at the moment are hardly ever used but we are still proposing to provide 29 parking spaces."

Councillors also decided there should be a traffic management study in the area but not as part of the conditions of the approval.

After the meeting Ibrahim Master, chairman of the Lancashire Council of Mosques, said: "I'm very pleased that the permission has been granted. Far from detracting from the area and impacting adversely on the amenity, the new mosque will be a first class asset not only to the area but also to the town of Blackburn."