Housing estate or mosque in Chislehurst?

News reaches Village News that Old Elthamians RFC is on the move - nearer to Eltham College. For over sixty years the extensive grounds at the end of Foxbury Avenue off Perry Street, Chislehurst have been their home ground, after the land had been requisitioned by the War Office during the Second World War.

The land is surrounded by playing fields and Darul Uloom, an Islamic school which is bursting at the seams. In 2002 planning permission was refused, on appeal, for the school for the erection of a three storey building to include, among other rooms, a school hall/place of worship. In 2003 planning permission was granted for, amongst other rooms, a “multi-purpose hall”. (Darul Uloom now refer to this multi-purpose hall as a “prayer hall”). Permission was granted subject to several conditions, one of which was that the number of pupils would not exceed 155 “to protect the amenity of adjoining residents.”

Towards the end of 2009 an application was made to increase the number of pupils to no more than 225. Despite this application being made over four years ago it is still "pending consideration."

As a school of “international renown” according to the planning inspector in 2002, it is only a question of time before the school needs to expand further; the question is, if the valuable Old Elthamians’ land comes on the market, will Darul Uloom be interested?

Given that London Councils’ last year predicted a housing shortfall in the capital of over 550,000 by 2021, there will be increasing pressure on green belt land. Remember back in 2007 when Asprey Homes won an appeal against Bromley Council's decision to block a proposal to build 800 homes on a green belt 34-acre Blue Circle site in Bromley Common?

So what’s it to be – housing estate or mosque?

www.chislehurstvillagenews.co.uk