Plans for transformation of Harlow Islamic Centre submitted to council planning committee
News / Sun 2nd Feb 2025 at 09:32am
PLANS to transform the Harlow Islamic Centre in Harlow have been submitted to the council planning committee.
The Islamic Centre sits off Paringdon Road in Harlow.
At the last census (2021) there were over 3,700 Harlow residents who assigned their faith as Muslim.
The application seeks the following:
“Partial demolition and reconstruction of eastern, single storey wing and alteration of pitch of existing roof to flat from ridge
‘Construction of a two-storey rear extension containing a classroom, prayer hall, community room and other associated facilities’
Site and Surroundings
The application site comprises a detached part single, part two storey building known as the Harlow Islamic Centre.
The building is substantial in size and occupies a large, roughly square footprint. It is brick built and has some timber cladding and a catslide roof (that is clad in concrete tiles). The building is believed to have been constructed in the 1980s and was formerly used as a sports hall community facility.
The site occupies an approximately 0.59ha plot located on the west side of Paringdon Road. There is a hard standing tennis court/Multi Use Games Area to the rear of the building and a parking area to the front.
The building is set back from the road and is accessed via by an unmade road up from Paringdon Road.
Details of the whole application can be found on the Harlow Council planning application.
Go to www.harlow.gov.uk. Search for Planning and enter: HW/FUL/25/00028
Andrew S.
2025-02-02 14:49:34
This seems likely to increase attendance at this site, parking is already a significant challenge at the location in part due to the nearby school. No planning should be granted unless there is a significant increase in parking on the site.
David Forman
2025-02-03 13:20:19
The main prayer attendance is on Friday lunchtime between 12:30 and 13:30 hours for Jummah prayers. Andrew S saying this impacts parking partly because of the adjacent school is nonsense. Whenever the anti-Muslim brigade want to stop a Mosque or Islamic Centre being built or extended their usual excuse is parking. Harlow Islamic Centre does its best to mitigate parking issues on Friday.
David Forman
2025-02-03 13:26:09
In case the anti-Muslim brigade don't believe me about Jummah prayers, here is the link to Harlow Islamic Centre website giving prayer times: https://harlowislamiccentre.org.uk/
Seamus
2025-02-03 15:04:36
Asking questions about a planning application, something that is allowed under planning application rules, does not make you anti anything, and it is quite offensive and ill judged to pressume that. If the Centre feels it's current site needs to expand then it recognises more people are attending than the site was developed for and more people means more vehicles and not just on a Friday. Given the planning application does not disclose current versus proposed vehicle numbers, then it is perfectly reasonable to believe the application, in that it will mean more vehicles on a site that has limited spaces.
Anon
2025-02-03 16:24:48
David Forman, it is right and proper that Harlow has the Islamic Centre, but Andrew S makes a valid point. Friday prayers for residents of Morningtons at least is a nightmare. I thought double yellow lines were for everyone to obey, no exceptions because it's 12:50pm on a Friday. There isn't enough parking for current usage, so it's not fair on local residents to suffer even more.
Zee
2026-04-04 15:08:40
I have been a resident of Harlow for over 20 years, having served the community various times as advisor for the CAB, volunteer for Streets to homes & rainbow and special constable for the Meteopolitan police. Now as a taxi driver I and a few others do charity runs for some seniors and families who are in desperate need of assistance, thanks to the inspirations from Maulana Saleem and his sermons. I do feel the need for something to be done as the muslim population is quite considerable in Harlow and nearby areas and we have to travel tens of miles each way to pray 5 times daily. That's 3 mosques shared between 4 thousand Muslim Harlow residents and many more from outside. For someone who has different views in regards to how muslims are portrayed in the media, I would recommend looking up religion, doing your primary research and then you have all the right to point fingers.
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