Mosque planning: The proposal for a proper Islamic place of worship in Lincoln has finally been submitted to the City of Lincoln Council.
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.
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.
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.
A dramatic video shows a car engulfed in flames in the car park at Lincoln County Hospital on Tuesday afternoon.
An on-call crew from Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue attended the scene on Greetwell Road shortly before 5pm on Tuesday, April 13.
The crew used one hose reel to extinguish the fire and fortunately no casualties were reported.
The car is probably a write-off. | Photo: The Lincolnite
Dramatic pictures from the scene show the severe damage that was caused to the front of the car.
Fall in county infections but a Boston spike
There have been 50 new coronavirus cases and three COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Tuesday — compared to 58 cases and no deaths this time last week.
The government’s COVID-19 dashboard recorded 26 new cases in Lincolnshire, 19 in North Lincolnshire and five in North East Lincolnshire.
On Tuesday, three deaths were registered in Lincolnshire, none in North East Lincolnshire and -1 in North Lincolnshire. Fluctuations in data are usually due to some deaths in those areas being reallocated to other regions across the UK or a miscount. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.
NHS England has reported two new local hospital deaths at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust hospitals.
On Tuesday, national cases increased by 2,472 to 4,375,814, while deaths rose by 23 to 127,123.
In local news, people aged over 45 can now book their COVID vaccinations on the NHS website after the government reached its target of offering a first dose to the nine most vulnerable groups.
There were recently some technical difficulties for people accessing the NHS website, but vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said the issues have been fixed – book a vaccine online here and find out if you are eligible.
Over the weekend, Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rate has fallen, with a spike in Boston only.
Similarly, the England average has also seen a drop in infections, but still remains nearly half Greater Lincolnshire’s rates.
Lincoln has dropped by more than half over the weekend and now has one of the smallest rates in the UK, with just 9.1 per 100,000 of the population infected with COVID-19.
Here’s Greater Lincolnshire’s COVID-19 infection rates up to April 12:
Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rates from Apr 5 to Apr 12. | Data: Gov UK / Table: James Mayer for The Lincolnite
In national news, Boris Johnson has warned that the reduction in coronavirus infections, hospitalisations and deaths “has not been achieved” by the rollout of COVID vaccines.
The prime minister, speaking the day after the latest easing of lockdown restrictions, instead said it was the national shutdown that had been “overwhelmingly important” in driving down COVID rates.
England is giving out its first doses of the Moderna jab, the third COVID-19 vaccine in the nation’s rollout.
It will be available at 21 sites, included the Madejski Stadium in Reading and the Sheffield Arena.
Along with the Pfizer jab, it offers an alternative to the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for under-30s, after concerns about a possible link to very rare blood clots.
Greater Lincolnshire includes Lincolnshire and the unitary authorities of North and North East (Northern) Lincolnshire.
58,772 cases (up 50)
2,184 deaths (up three)
of which 1,302 hospital deaths (up two)
4,375,814 UK cases, 127,123 deaths
There will be another Kill The Bill protest in Lincoln next week, rallying against a new government bill that diminishes protesting rights.
Protests have been rife across the country since the government’s proposed Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill was first discussed, with scenes turning violent in Bristol.
Over two hundred people peacefully took part in the city’s first march at Speakers’ Corner on April 3, including Extinction Rebellion activists and Socialist and Labour supporters.
| Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Now, after a post started doing the rounds on social media, another protest has apparently been scheduled for 2pm on Monday, April 17 at the same location on Lincoln High Street, as part of a national day of action.
A poster promoting a second event has been shared across social media platforms.
Protests are lawful once again after the government eased lockdown restrictions on March 29, but organisers are required to submit a risk assessment prior to any event.
| Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Organisers of the last protest were in close communication with police to make the event safe, and The Lincolnite has asked Lincolnshire Police if they have been made aware of another protest, but are yet to receive a reply.
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