Charity says it was unfairly treated in mosque planning process

Lawyers for a Muslim charity that has been trying to build a mosque and community centre in Dudley told the Court of Appeal in London today that the local council abused its power when it dealt with their planning application. The Dudley Muslim Association (DMA) has been in dispute with Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council since 2010 over the plans. It blames the council for causing delays in the planning process that led to the DMA missing deadlines that led to the failure of the project. The DMA first put forward plans to develop a mosque and community centre in 1997 and the council granted it a lease of the Hall Street site in 2003. Under the lease, the DMA agreed to obtain all necessary planning consents and complete building work within five years, and, in 2005, it acquired the freehold on the condition that the property be transferred back to the council if the works were not completed by the end of 2008. But “hurdles” put in the way of the DMA by the council meant that “the planning process took much longer than the Dudley Muslim Association ever foresaw,” their lawyer David Matthias QC told a three-judge panel at the Court of Appeal today. The DMA missed the 2008 deadline, an in 2010 the council refused to extend it. The council is now seeking to take back the land as it claims the site is “high profile” and shouldn’t remain derelict. “The DMA’s fundamental case is that there was an abuse of power,” Matthias said. Specifically, the council abused its power when it refused to extend the deadline in 2010. “We say that this is unfairness that is easy to see,” he said. Even though the dispute has already reached the Court of Appeal, the actual dispute has not yet gone to trial. Today’s hearing arises from an appeal of a summary judgment granted to the council. But now the Court of Appeal will decide whether a full trial should proceed before the future of the site can be resolved. Dudley Muslim Association v Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council Court of Appeal (Lewison LJ, Treacy LJ, Gloster LJ) 28 October 2015