Under the radar: planning application for Green Road Mosque resuscitated

Under the radar: planning application for Green Road Mosqueresuscitated

This is for the FULL planning permission for the Green Road Mosque, now resurrected for it's third time. Permission expiredin 18/10/2009. If no work is done by permission expiry date, a full application must be made abiding by all the normal planning laws, as if from scratch.

This is a HUGE building, and it concerns me greatly that the resident who contacted me said he has not been sent the normal "neighbour consultation" documents nor has he seen the usual planning notification notices.

In addition, "Site notice posted" and "Agent Details" are marked as "No Details".
"Environmental Assessment Required?" is marked NO.

It doesn't appear that RBC have any intention of making it easy to check this application, right down to putting the planning documents on the web upside down.

There are many documents to read through, and I've not had time to check all of them. I am concerned about some of the building being exclusively for males, and I wonder if this meets equality laws?

Here is the OCR'd text from the Design And Access Statement.

DESIGN & ACCESS STATEMENT FOR

JAMME MASJID THE NEW MOSQUE & ISLAMIC CULTURAL CENTRE GREEN ROAD, READING
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this statement is to explain the key issues on which the design for the development of this site has been prepared.

This application is for full planning permission subsequent to a permission granted in October 2007 for Reserved Matters application (application No. 07lO1045lREM), which lapsed in October 2010.

Since the approval of the Reserved Matters application, Reading Borough Council has released the lease hold of the site to the Jamme Masjid, Reading, for the construction of a purpose built mosque according to the approved outline application.

The Jamme Masjd board of trusties held several meetings with the members of the Council including the leader of the Council, Mr Andrew Cumpsty, the head of the development, Mr Bruce Tindall, head of the legal department, Mr Chris Brooks and senior planning case officer, Mr Justin Turvey in order to find a way forward after the Reserved Matters application became void in October 2010. The Jamme Masjid trusties were made aware of the urgency to submit a fresh full application and to comply with the conditions, which were attached to the lease agreement.
Further pre­ application consultations were held on the 11"' August 2010 and 20"“ December 2010 with Mr. Justin Turvey on the particulars of the new application and to ensure all were correct and complete.

The original outline application, which was granted in 2002, application No. 01/01109/OUT/AD dealt with several aspects of planning including the Transport Statement. This statement has been updated for this application by Bellamy Roberts, Highway & Transport Consultants and is part of this application.

The allocated site for the construction of the new mosque is located on the junction of Green Road with Wokingham Road. lt is located conveniently within the catchment areas of East Reading where the majority of the Muslim community live, currently using Alexandra Road mosque. Its close proximity to Reading University and Thames Valley University provides easy access for Muslim students.

Reading is a multi-cultural town inhabited by various groups of ethnic minorities each representing a different cuiture, tradition and religion. Therefore it makes proper sense that the town should reflect this multi- cuitural and multi-faith background in terms of its buildings and architecture.

The Muslim community in East Reading have for many years been using a converted residential property in Alexandra Road for a place of worship. The Alexandra Road Mosque has been moditied and extended several times to cater for the growing Muslim community in this part of the town. The building in terms of its space and facilities is most inadequate for its use as a mosque. The site offers limited number of car parking, which becomes unavailable during Fridays noon congregation because of the overflow of worshippers into the car park. This increases congestion on street parking in Alexandra Road, which often becomes a problem for the residents of Alexandra Road.

The new mosque would not only replace the existing mosque in Alexandra Road, which is inadequate and lacks sufficient parking, but will also provide a range of other facilities for the local community.
THE PROPOSAL

This application is for the construction of a Mosque and an Islamic Cultural Centre, which will include 3 prayer halls for a congregation of approximately 550 people, toilets and washing facilities, classrooms for religious and cultural studies for both boys and girls between the ages of tive and twelve, 2 flats for resident lmams (leading clergymen), a library, conference rooms, a shop purely for educational materials and items related to religious practice, a centre for the elderly of the community, a mortuary, an under croft car park with 113 spaces and other facilities.

The main prayer hall is located at the ground level for large congregations at noon on Fridays, which is designated for male worshippers, whilst the Floor gallery is designated for ladies. The third hall, which is located at the lower ground floor, is for smaller congregations at times other than noon on Fridays.
SITE CONTEXT AND ITS SURROUNDINGS

The site is adjacent to the junction between Wokingham Road and Green Road and currentiy encompasses 2 tennis courts. The site is bounded to the West by Thames Valley University’s Playing Field, to the East by a Doctors Surgery and to the North by a new residential development by George Wimpey Ltd.
The area of the site is 0.44 hectares

To the West of the tennis courts the ground level changes rapidly, forming an embankment of nearly 4m high, which is level with Green Road.

Green Road is purely a residential road whilst, Wokingham Road is dominated by a mix of residential and commercial properties. However, the site has no immediate boundaries with any existing residential or commercial properties.
DESIGN PRINCIPLES
Key considerations for the design of the scheme:

« The site is in a prominent location, which is suitable for a landmark development and therefore, the design needs to take this into consideration by retiecting on the quality of appearance, appropriate scale and massing, use of suitable external materials for the building’s aesthetics and durability and incorporating attractive landscaping to enhance the streetscape.

To take into account the traditional rules of the mosque architecture by applying correct proportion and scale between different elements of the mosque.
To provide all necessary facilities, which are needed for proper functioning of the mosque.
To accommodate other possible facilities, which are required by the local community.
To make efficient use of the land and to tal-ce advantage of the land topography.
To provide all necessary measures for the site security.
To take into account in the design all possible measures for an energy efficient building.
To design the building that has its own urban character.
To design a building that is attractive, while being usable and durable at the same time.
PROPOSED BUILDING FORM SCALE
The design of the mosque is based on the traditional principles of mosques architecture. These principles are:
The correct orientation of the mosque towards Mecca.

« Incorporating a proper proportion between the mass and scale of three main elements of the mosque, the main building, the dome and the minaret.
Providing the interior with sufficient daylight.
» Arranging different facilities in the proper sequent of use.
The main access to the site is proposed from Green Road, which also serves the new George Wimpey's development.

The design takes advantage of the site topography by incorporating an under Croft car park, toilets, washing facilities, a small prayer Hall, reception, a kitchen, a mortuary and a fiat for a resident Imam (leading clergyman) in the lower section of the site whilst the main mosque building is located in the upper section, which is levelled with the access from Green Road.

The under Croft car park is accessed via a ramp and provides 113 car parking spaces including 5 disabled spaces. The requirement for the number of car parking spaces has been subject to a thorough assessment during the Outline planning application and has been approved by the Council.
A total of 98 secure bicycle storage spaces are also provided in separate locations within the site.

The main mosque building is designed to be double height with a first floor gallery for lady worshippers plus 3 girls’ classrooms, toilets and an office. The ground floor hall is mainly used by male worshipers
The pedestrian access to the mosque is mainly from two separate entrances for ladies and gents from Wokingham Road.

At the point of the pedestrian entrance to the mosque off-loading is restricted and a drop­off zone has been provided in the under croft car park.

A separate 3-storey building, which is linked to the main building, provides additional facilities such as a shop, a crèche, an office, toilets and a flat for the second resident Imam at the ground floor, an elderly persons’ community room, a conference room and toilets on the ist floor and a library, boys' classroom plus toilets on the 2"“ floor.


All levels both in the main building and the linked building including the under croft car park are served by a lift suitable for disabled persons. A second disabled lift also serves the ladies’ gallery.

The flat roof above the under croft car park is designed as a terrace in front of the grand entrance to themosque giving a presence to the mosque in the landscape.
APPEARANCE

The mosque main building is designed to appear as a 3-storey building. It will be clad with white granite stone also incorporating large sections of glazing, which will add transparency and help in reducing the impact of the mass.

The dome above the main building will have the appearance of a tiled door in blue colour. The dome shape is a soft shape, usually pleasant to the eye and less intrusive than other geometric shapes. The blue colour of the dome would blend to the sky, which will help further in reducing the impact of the overall mass of the building.

The minaret is usually the tallest element of a mosque. Minarets, traditionally, serve two purposes. lts primary use is to call worshipers to attend the mosque and at the same time it makes the presence of the mosquevisible in the surrounding area. The height of a minaret is usually shorter for the district mosques and substantially talier for the main city mosques.

We have articulated the height of the minaret to look proportionate with the main mass of the building including the dome. The proposed minaret is not intended to be used for inviting worshipers and no use of loud speakers is intended for this purpose.
ACCESS
The application site is accessed by vehicles from Green Road and by pedestrians from Wokingham Road.
The site is well connected by public transport, pedestrian and cycle routes to Reading town centre and other parts of Reading.

The majority of people who will attend the mosque are local to this area and will walk or cycle to the mosque. Others from various parts of Reading can either make use of regular public transport on Wokingham Road or drive to the mosque, where ample car parking spaces are available.

ACCESS FOR THE DISABLED

Access for the disabled has been accommodated within the design sufficient to comply with ‘Access to and Use of Buildings’, Part M of the Building Regulations.
The building is served by 2 lifts providing access for disabled to all levels and parts of the complex.

All doors’ clear opening are designed to be greater than 800mm, doors to disabled toilets and showers open outwards and will have minimum 300mm clearance on the handle side.
All electric fixtures will be between 450mm and 1200mm from the floor.
Disabled toilets and showers will be tilted with support and grab rails.

There are 5 parking spaces designated for disabled users with a 3.3m width, which are marked on the plan.
SECTION 106 AGREEMENT

The Jamme Masjid board of trusties agree to enter a section 106 agreement with the council and will provide details of their solicitor whenever it is required.