Flood-risk mosque plans to be revised

ENVIRONMENT Agency experts have opened the door for £2m plans for a new mosque in York shelved over flood risk concerns to be resubmitted.

The original proposals, submitted earlier this year, proposed replacing the current building on Bull Lane with a much larger building.

However, following objections from Environment Agency chiefs that the building is located in one of the most high-risk zones in the city due to breaches from nearby Osbaldwick Beck, the Mosque announced earlier this week that it was taking the plans back to the drawing board.

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Environment Agency spokeswoman Francesca Glyn-Jones told the Yorkshire Post yesterday: “There are still possibilities in the future.

“There may be some possibility if the new application follows the footprint of the existing building, however this wasn’t the case.

“When the existing building was made we didn’t have the mapping and technology that we have now.

“Certainly now there is a great deal more emphasis on making buildings more resistant to flooding.”

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The proposed multi-million pound mosque would have included minarets, a central dome, prayer hall, classroom and meeting rooms.

It would have replaced the existing building which is more than 25 years old.

York’s geography makes the city and its surrounding area highly susceptible to flooding, while minimising the risk has been highlighted as a key issue in its current local development framework to dictate the future of development over the next 25 years.

Earlier this year, a petition calling for flood defence funding for Leeman Road was presented to 10 Downing Street by councillors from its ruling Labour group,

Critics say previously promised funding for flood defence work in the area, which was badly affected by floods in 2000, was withdrawn.