Preston's Brick Veil Mosque gets government approval

The design of the mosque was chosen in a Royal Institute of British Architects competition

A landmark mosque will be built by one of the busiest road junctions in Preston after getting government approval.

It will be built on raised grassland at the Broughton interchange, where the M6, M55 and A6 meet.

The 40ft (12m) tall mosque had been granted planning permission by Preston City Council last year.

But the development divided public opinion and the government set up a public inquiry into it.

Housing and planning minister Lucy Frazer has now given the green light for planning permission for what will be called the Brick Veil Mosque.

Permission was also granted for parking facilities off D'Urton Lane for the new building.

Many people had raised concerns about its scale and the impact on traffic.

But supporters said local Muslims "should not be deprived of a local place of worship".

The council's barrister said the mosque would be on "an elevated area of vacant grassland of no particular quality"

The decision to grant planning permission was called in for review after opposition from Ben Wallace, the MP for Wyre and Preston North, and Preston city councillor Graham Jolliffe.

The public inquiry was held over a week in August.

Planning inspector Darren Hendley heard 50 hours of evidence from supporters, who said it would be a "brilliant place to worship", and opponents, who said it was too big for its proposed site.

Broughton Parish Council's advocate Peter Black said the mosque would impact on the "residual rural and open character and appearance of the site" and could not be "an iconic structure that is also unobtrusive in the landscape".

Preston City Council's barrister Piers Riley-Smith said it would "provide a landmark" which celebrated both the city's "heritage" and its "socially diverse and inclusive community".

The mosque's design, which was chosen in a Royal Institute of British Architects competition, includes a 30m-high (98ft) minaret that looks like a Victorian mill chimney in a nod to Preston's industrial past.

The mosque is expected to be able to accommodate about 250 worshippers.

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