New Mega Mosque and Madrasa Planned For Bolton

A huge new mosque and 19-classroom madrasa is planned for Bolton, Lancashire. Taiyabah Islamic Centre has submitted plans to Bolton Council for a mosque with a dome and a minaret tower.

The development will be large enough for 1000 mats in the prayer area. This is in addition to the 19 classrooms. Should the plans be approved there will be on-site parking for 80 spaces, which is highly unlikely to cater from the expected traffic.

A spokesman for the Taiyabah Mosque told the Bolton Evening News: “Our charity serves one of the oldest mosque communities in Bolton.

“The community is in need of a new facility that meets the day-to-day worship, education and community needs. We have been planning for this scheme for a number of years to ensure that the right development was aesthetically pleasing and functional.”

The new mosque will replace the existing Taiyabah Mosque that was established in 1967 and bought to its present home in 1988. It currently occupies the site of an old Sunday school, but this is no longer large enough to cope with the number of worshippers.

David Cox, the project’s principal architect, said: “We are particularly proud to be part of a project which explores the nature of faith and community in a positive way.

“We have explored this by arranging the building around a series of courtyard spaces so that the building presents an open and inviting aspect to surrounding streets in a gesture of welcome to passers-by.”

There are already 21 mosques in Bolton, which is a town with a 139,000 residents. It is 11.7 percent Muslim, which is twice the national average.

Although the Bolton mosque is very large, and has attracted negative reactions from the local population it is nowhere near the largest proposed in the UK. In West Ham, London a group are applying to build a mega mosque with capacity for 9000 worshippers.

The colossal new facility will be funded by Saudi Arabia, and is likely to be approved despite 280,000 people signing a petition on the Downing Street website demanding its rejection.