A SECOND mosque could be built in Brierfield if plans to transform a car park get the go-ahead.

The town's Sultania Mosque Committee wants to buy the plot once occupied by numbers 1-21 Carleton Street.

A report by William Hargreaves, Pendle Council's estates and property services manager, says the council-owned land should be declared surplus to requirements as there has been little use made of it. The report, which will be discussed by the council's Brierfield and Reedley committee tomorrow. , reveals that the mosque committee has been negotiating to buy a block of nine privately owned houses in Oxford Street.

It says the two sites together would be big enough for the intended development.

The town's Muslim community worships at a mosque in Bridge Street, Brierfield, created by the conversion of a small block of former shops and houses. The proposed new site is directly behind the Power House Gym on the west side of Burnley Road, Brierfield.

Last year the Brierfield and Reedley committee granted outline planning permission for a mosque to be built on a disused garage site on Arthur Street, Brierfield, on the opposite side of the main road. Last month the committee rejected a bid to build it higher on the grounds that it would be out of scale and character with the rest of the area.

Councillors agreed that the proposed mosque had to remain a two-storey building, and not allow an additional floor.

The two Brierfield proposals are in addition to the £1million-plus showpiece mosque planned for Burnley, set to be the biggest place of worship for Muslims in the North West.

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