Bracknell Islamic Community Centre plans approved by council

The Bracknell Islamic Cultural Society (BICS) will move into an empty office at Waterside Park on Cookham Road following planning permission being granted.

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Speaking at a virtual planning meeting, councillor Michael Brossard said: “For a building that’s been empty now for two years this is a golden opportunity for the Islamic Community Centre to carry that refurbishment and to find a facility I understand is very much needed in the community.”

The centre will have three meeting rooms, separate men’s and women’s prayer halls, an Imam’s room, a creche, a library and more.

Hundreds of letters of support from Berkshire and from other parts of the UK were sent to BFC before the application was approved which encouraged planning bosses to give the proposal the go-ahead.

But around 200 letters of objection were also sent to the council with residents raising concerns about a large number of visitors to the centre meaning increased traffic and parking problems.

To limit this, prayer space on Fridays will be limited to a maximum of 80 people, split into three sessions starting 40 minutes apart.

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It is expected 51 people will get to the site by car for each session, but the BICS has been told it must promote car-sharing as a way of getting to the estate and a shuttle bus will run every Friday afternoon to get people to the site.

Despite this, councillor Robert Angell said he was “not convinced” about the loss of office space and travel provisions put in place.

He said: “When you get to weekends there’s frequently a long queue to get to Longshot Lane and to the dump.

“I’m just concerned not enough has been taken into account with the disruption these activities could cause.”

But a council officer told the committee a travel plan will be reviewed every year for the next five years to make sure there is little disruption to parking nearby.

Other people who objected to the proposal pointed to potential noise and disturbance from the site, but councillor Peter Heydon hit back at this suggestion.

He said: “The Islamic community in Bracknell has been in operation for more than eleven years and we’ve not had any complaints.

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“They are currently in much smaller premises embedded is a residential area and I’m not aware of any complaints at all so they actually have a track record of being good citizens and a very good community within the borough.”

Councillors voted through the proposals, with just two voting against, at a virtual meeting on Thursday, April 23.

The approval comes after a long wait for the BICS, which has been using a single room in a council office space its base since 2016.

Their application for the Waterside Park site was submitted in August 2019 and was set to be approved at a meeting in March, but this was postponed due to the coronavirus lockdown.