Lincoln mosque in Boultham detailed in planning

Plans to develop a mosque alongside a food store and possible new housing on an old dairy site in Lincoln have been submitted to the City Council.

The £500,000 proposal from the Islamic Association of Lincoln submitted the proposals at the end of August.

The plans focus around the mosque aspect of the site on the corner of Boultham Park Road and Dixon Street, which will be used for both the association and the community.

The mosque will be placed to the south-east of the site, with the prayer areas of the building facing Mecca, which Lincoln is at a 120.08 degree angle from.

The 1,019 square meters mosque will be built out of yellow or buff brick, with powdered aluminium windows and single-ply membrane roofing and a symmetrical facade.

The brick choice is to help the building fit in with the city, reflecting the use of limestone in a lot of Lincoln’s iconic builds.

Inside, the ground floor will host the male prayer area and community hall, plus showers and single sex libraries and lobbies.

Upstairs will be an area for women’s worship, plus a children’s teaching area and the Imam’s office.

The community hall can be used by the wider community by booking, and can be accessed easily from the main entrance without needing to go through prayer areas.

The site on the map. The bolded areas detail development within the site, including the mosque in the south-east, supermarket in the west and residential plans at the back.

Without the parking at the proposed Lidl supermarket, there will be 68 parking spaces at the building — 58 at the back of the building and 10 to the north.

The site will be lined with trees to reduce the impact of a car park and large buildings on neighbouring buildings.

Access to the site will be from Dixon Street for cars and pedestrians, and shared with supermarket. Disabled access will be available across the site.

There may be room to add a new residential road to the south of the site, including a small green for the new homes.

The back of the mosque, which mirrors the front of the building and will face the car park

However, the mosque still has a number of considerations to take on board. The plans may have to change due to exact building dimensions not being present.

Plus, there are a number of consultations which will have to be made, not just with neighbours. Constraints include a potential flood risk zone, and the site needs testing for contaminated land.

The site will also need approval from the Civic Trust and English Heritage plus a site and press advert due to having a listed building, ancient monument and conservation area.

While most comments have been positive so far regarding the plans, comments of the full-scale of the mosque and parking issues have been raised.

One neighbour to the site questioned if 68 spaces would be enough on the chance that the supermarket was not erected at the same time.

The City of Lincoln Council’s Planning Department will begin looking into the planning document and site by the end of the month, allowing for refinements before putting it before the Planning Committee for the final say.