The space in St Mellons will be open to the entire community
LEADERS of a Muslim community centre, who want their new building to be a space for all of St Mellons, say an anonymous campaign attempted to derail their plans.
East Cardiff Muslim Centre acquired the defunct police station in St Mellons in 2019 and have been given planning permission to demolish it and build a new centre.
Zahier Ahmed, a volunteer and director of the trust behind the new centre, said: “Even though it says ‘Muslim Centre’ it’s not just a Muslim centre.
“We’re there five times a day for daily prayers, but we’ve had lots of different activities.
“Mother and toddler groups, coffee mornings, cookery classes, fitness classes, language classes, refugee get-togethers, health and wellness, mental health, St John’s Ambulance training, youth clubs, you name it.
“Having our own purpose-built building will allow us to use every square inch of the space and add an open space for football, basketball and barbecues, which will be open to the entire community.”
The planning process for this centre had been running smoothly until 46 objections were logged, claiming to be about noise, parking, and the style of the building being out of character with the area.
However it has emerged that an anonymous leaflet was circulated around St Mellons urging residents to oppose the plans for these exact reasons. It gave sample objections for people to rephrase and submit as their own.
Of the objections submitted, 91% mentioned issues with parking and traffic, 76% mentioned noise and other disturbance, and 45% said the building would be out of character with the area. Several explicitly referred to the leaflet.
A number made unsubstantiated claims that the building would cause anti-social behaviour. One objector said they had not opposed the plans for a community centre until they found out it would be a Muslim place of worship.
Several objections quoted the capacity of the centre as 350 people, a figure which ECMC has never claimed, and which appears to originate from the leaflet.
One person who saw the leaflet thought that it was an official council leaflet, but a spokesperson for Cardiff Council confirmed the anonymous leaflet did not originate there.
Mr Ahmed said: “We’d been based in the St Mellons Enterprise Centre since 2017 and the police station since 2019 but hadn’t had a single complaint about parking.
“The bullet points on the leaflets were parroted in the objections including the building not being in-keeping with the local area. The natural, stereotypical assumption is that it would be a mosque with the domes and minarets, in Asian or Arabic style.
“But if you look at our website and the render of the plans, it’s not the case. It was clear that none of the objectors had looked at this.
“They hadn’t bothered to contact the community. We could’ve had a dialogue with anybody who had any objections.
“We’ve had a really good relationship with everyone in the community and unfortunately this anti-Islamic racist leaflet has done more damage to relations than we could’ve imagined.”
There were 61 public comments in support of the planning permission during the process. They pointed out that places of worship are rarely disruptive and that the objections relied on negative stereotypes.
Some indicated that prayers have already been hosted at the property without objection. They also pointed out the community and charity work that ECMC engages in.
Others highlighted that the Church of the Resurrection is around the corner from the site and has not attracted any such complaints.
But the number of objections meant the previously simple planning application now had to go through the Planning Committee.
Permission was granted on Wednesday, January 19. Eight councillors voted to grant permission and none voted against. Labour councillor Iona Gordon voted to abstain.
Planning permission was originally given to extend and develop the existing police station, which had been closed since 2012. ECMC was the only bidder for the building when it was sold and has secured a £250,000 Community Facilities grant.
The decision to demolish and rebuild was reached after it became clear that extending the existing site would not be financially viable.
Mr Ahmed points out that the housebuilding campaign under the Local Development Plan will create an increased need for a community centre.
He said: “With St Mellons having massive expansion over the next five years, having this facility for the Muslim population but also the entire community can only add to community cohesion.
“The more facilities we have, the more we can take pressure off places like the St Mellons Hub and offer a religious place of worship, specifically for the Muslim community but also for anyone.”
He also says the new building would be in-keeping with Cardiff’s nature: “Diversity is fundamental in Cardiff. I couldn’t say any area of the city is segregated in any way to one race or one faith.
“If you look at Grangetown and Riverside, people might have a perception – but if you walk the streets of those areas, they’re diverse in population and diverse in religion.”
Now that permission has been granted, demolition and building work can begin.
The existing building is set to be demolished by May 2022, and the building is expected to open in late 2023 or early 2024.
