Apologies were offered by Surrey Council to all parties within the ongoing London Road mosque debate following delays to the planning application due to an an internal error.
Permission for the Camberley mosque had previously been granted by a planning commission, but was then revoked following the notification that they had ignored advice from planning officers, who recommended refusing the plans due to a variety of undisclosed issues.
It was confirmed during a meeting on Wednesday 17th February that all 40 council members will now be required to vote on the planning application submitted by The Bengali Welfare Assocation, which wishes to demolish the Victorian school building it currently uses on London Road and replace it with a traditional domed mosque.
The debate has drawn interest from politicians across the UK following local resident’s opposition which outlined that the school was one of the last remaining historic buildings in Camberley and as such should not be pulled down.
Local MP Micheal Gove argued that the application should be withdrawn for the sake of “good community relations”.
Alan Hilliar, a Liberal Democrat who will be challenging Gove at the next election, then condemned Gove’s stance in an article for The Guardian arguing that Camberley has a "significant Muslim community who want their own place of worship" and claiming that "Gove’s sudden opposition to the mosque is linked to his desire to retain the support of his local party’s anti-European right wing."
There is currently no date set for when the full vote will take place on the proposed plans.
