Protestors have taken to the streets over plans to build a new £2.5million mosque dubbed a ‘monstrosity’ on the edge of the idyllic Lake District.
The controversial South Lakes Islamic Centre has already been green-lit by planning bosses – sparking fierce opposition locally.
The scheme was submitted by a group of Muslim doctors at the General Hospital in Barrow-in-Furness, who said the closest place to worship was in Lancaster some 50 miles away.
But the bid has divided the community, with demonstrators both for and against the proposal seen clashing outside the construction site of the new Islamic centre.
Tensions have been steadily rising in Dalton-in-Furness, with protestors from each camp seen standing opposite one another, waving flags and chanting slogans.
Construction for the three-storey worship site began in January this year, though plans for the location date back to 2021, with planning approval granted in December 2022 – despite 30 objections being raised.
Supporters of the centre, in Crooklands Brow, Dalton, held banners that read ‘Stop the far right’ and chanted: ‘Say it loud, say it clear, Islamic Centre is welcome here.’
Opposing protesters waved the Union and Knights Templar flags with the two groups shouting across the road during fiery exchanges.
Resident’s have previously voiced their concerns over social media for the construction of the mosque.
One said: ‘Absolute monstrosity in the Lake District.’
Another said: ‘Absolutley DISGUSTING * total blot on the landscape * totally unwelcome * how on earth has this been passed in planning.’
One other resident said: ‘There’s goes the beautiful Lake District – with a huge building plonked there.’
The South Lakes Islamic Centre charity, led by a group of Muslim doctors working at Barrow’s Furness General Hospital, is behind the project.
The centre will become the only masjid within a 50-mile radius serving both the local Muslim community and visiting tourists.
The group said the space would cater to the 40 to 50 practising Muslim doctors at Furness General Hospital and their families.
It will also allow ‘professionals, business communities and other trade workers who will need basic prayer, burial, teaching and community facilities’.
It is expected to cost around £2.5million to build.
Supporters say the centre would provide a much-needed place of worship for hundreds of Muslim families living in the area while opponents have raised concerns about the development, saying it is not needed in Furness.
Mandy Penellum, secretary of Barrow’s Trades Council, was among those voicing their support for the Islamic Centre.
‘I’m from Barrow myself but we’re all Furness people, and there has been so much negative coverage about the Islamic Centre. We came together to counter the negativity from the protesters over there,’ she said.
‘There is a narrative here that’s been perpetuated – that the Islamic Centre’s not welcome – and that’s not everybody’s view by any stretch of the imagination.
‘We’ve always been a welcoming and tolerant community here and people have come out to show that. You only have to look at Furness General Hospital, with staff from all over the world – it’s important everybody has a space to worship.
‘The centre is also going to be an asset for community use and I think it’s really important that people understand that and acknowledge the fact that we’re all human beings, we all have a right and a space to pray.’
Paul Jenkins, from Stand Up to Racism and Unite Against Fascism, said: ‘We were standing in solidarity the South Lakes Islamic Centre and we were opposing a protest which was being held against the Islamic Centre.
‘Dalton, and Furness generally, is a welcoming, multicultural, and multi-faith place. The protest against the Mosque does not speak for the people of Dalton and of Furness.’
In late March the representative for South Lakes Islamic Centre alleged there had been delays in the delivery of material to the site off Ulverston Road in Dalton due to negative coverage on TV.
In a YouTube video, a representative from the organisation said work to pour concrete into the foundations has been ‘delayed’ and that ‘local suppliers have refused to deal with us’.
‘The concrete, which was supposed to come this week, has been delayed because of the GB News coverage,’ the video alleged.
‘It’s just the challenges we face; it’s a difficult area to build, but we are progressing very quickly.’
The spokesman added some quarries have also ‘declined’ to give stones to the centre.
Construction for the place of worship has continued since the alleged delay.
