11/05/21 

The Stealth Mosque Strikes Again

We reported last weekend that Hamptons has been used for daily prayers at night, for what we thought was at least 10 days. One of the directors of Hamptons, has rather helpfully confirmed that they’ve been using it for a month “without any complaints”. We will be forwarding a screenshot to Planning Enforcement.

Whether or not there have been any complaints is a irrelevant, it is a breach of planning control, and shows the contempt that the Chelmsford Muslim Society hold for the planning system and local residents.

The Town Planning department have been quite clear in their communications with the Chelmsford Muslim Society, and the permitted uses for worship are limited to:

• Friday prayers: taking place late lunchtime/early afternoon

• Saturday youth group: taking place within one room of the building with a mix of activities including religious instruction.

The numbers attending visibly increased from the 02/05/21 onwards, and we have noted worshippers staggering their arrival and departure to not alert local residents. They’ve also been very careful to use the rear car park to avoid detection, and had a parking warden ushering everyone round to the rear car park. Watch our evidence video here.

On 08/05/21 there were more than 30 cars onsite, and the worshippers were packed in like sardines (we have a photo), with little attempt to maintain social distancing.

We suspect that the numbers were kept low for weeks, to test the waters and to see if anyone complained. It’s also clear that no one arrived on foot or by bicycle, something that will continue to be an issue as the bus network pretty much shuts down after 10pm.

We would urge all local residents to report this new breach of planning control, we cannot allow the CMS to keep pushing the boundaries and expand the use for worship, which will ultimately push out the sports and leisure uses. The use for daily prayers was also documented by a BBC film crew, watch the report here.

To report the breach hit the button below, which will redirect you to the Planning Enforcement online form. Feel free to cut and paste the following wording to help you complete the form.

Briefly outline the nature of your concern/complaint

“I wish to report that daily prayers are taking place at Hamptons Sports & Leisure Centre. I estimate that there have been in excess of 20 cars arriving every night between 2145-2205 hrs and leaving between 2305 hrs and midnight. I have seen photographic and video evidence that the centre is being used for daily worship. This is in direct contravention of the lawfully permitted uses agreed by Town Planning as part of the buildings current planning permission”

Summarise how this affects you.

“The breach of planning control causes harm to the residential amenity through noise and disturbance at unsocial hours. If these repeated breaches are allowed to continue without enforcement, there will be further damage to the residential amenity. When the Covid regulations are lifted this unlawful use will also increase parking pressure locally”.

Please note that the council system does not issue an instant confirmation, and takes about 20 minutes to send out the confirmation email.