Planning issues

Planning track record

TJ has an irresponsible record over planning control compliance since it bought the West Ham site in 1996. It has:

1. Erected buildings including kitchens and an ablution block on site without prior planning permission and in breach of building control, despite serious and clear warnings from Newham Council officers;
2. Failed substantially to fulfil the terms of a five-year Memorandum of Agreement entered into with the Council on 15 October 2001;
3. Until forced by a July 2007 Freedom of Information request, failed to publish, act on or warn the public about the March 2007 Waterman Environmental contamination survey which alarmingly indicated the environmental risk of the site as “medium/high” and the risk to current users as “potentially significant”;
4. Continued to use the site on a daily basis despite the expiration on 31 October 2006 of their temporary planning permission.

Approval process

When published the mosque plans will be submitted to three authorities for approval:

Newham Council. The mosque plans will first be submitted to Newham Council for assessment by officers, for statutory consultation and for review by the Development Control (Planning) Committee which is chaired by Cllr Ron Manley and has nine members, eight of whom are Labour and four of whom are Muslim. The committee will make a recommendation up to the LTGDC and the ODA.

London Thames Gateway Development Corporation. The LTGDC has determining power over the mosque application. The Planning Committee will review Newham Council’s recommendation, take its own soundings and formally decide on the application. The Committee is chaired by Newham Council’s nominee and Labour councillor Conor McAuley, and has Dru Vesty as vice-chair.

Olympic Delivery Authority. The ODA also has determining authority although the precise relationship between the LGTDC and the ODA is not clear. The application will be decided by the ODA’s Planning Committee which is chaired by former LGTDC chairman Lorraine Baldry. Both Cllr McAuley and Ms Vesty (above) are members of the Committee.

The LTGDC/ODA decision can be appealed to the Planning Inspectorate and, due to its size and its strategic and controversial nature, it may be called in by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

The Mayor of London does not have legal power to approve the planning application for the mega-mosque; that is the function of the LTGDC.

However under current legislation, if the mega-mosque project is classed as of 'Potential Strategic Importance' (PSI) he has the power to reject the application.