Council Rejects Plans for Muslim School and Worship Place in Blackburn

A proposal to convert a former nursery building into a Muslim school and place of worship has been declined. The Muslim Welfare Institute (MWI) had sought to transform the former Emerald Street Nursery, located in Blackburn, into a madrassa—an Islamic faith school—and a mosque. The institute also put forward plans for a single-storey extension to house facilities for religious ablutions and toilets. However, Blackburn with Darwen Council denied the planning application for these proposed changes. Objections raised against the scheme included an insufficient number of off-street parking spaces for nearby residents, potential disruption to bus routes along Emerald Street, and concerns regarding noise pollution. A report recommending the refusal, authored by senior planner Christian Barton, stated: “The site comprises of a two-storey building, rear play area and off-street vehicle parking for around four vehicles.“This application involves changing the use of the building to form a place of worship and Islamic education centre or madrassa.“The nursery use appears to have vacated some time in 2022.“Should that happen, then the number of individuals within the extended building as a whole would be significantly more than the anticipated numbers.” The report also indicated that the plans would occupy space that could otherwise be utilized by smaller scale businesses, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. Mr. Barton further noted that the proposals had not demonstrated that noise levels would be maintained at a satisfactory standard to avoid impacting “the health and the quality of life of the immediate neighbours”. The MWI intends for the property to be operational 17 hours a day, seven days a week.