I am pleased that the Leader of the Council, Richard Cornelius has issued the following statement
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In response to the recent media coverage concerning the Golders Green Hippodrome, The Leader of Barnet Council, Councillor Richard Cornelius, has issued the following statement:
“We are extremely proud of our borough’s rich cultural diversity and the way our communities live together. We are aware of the current community tensions surrounding the Hippodrome planning application – and indeed some of the inflammatory commentary that has been posted in response to this matter. Following advice, and due to the volume of comments that were posted, a decision was taken to remove all comments made on the planning portal for this application. All comments relating to the Hippodrome application are being monitored and logged and will be presented to Planning Committee when the application is heard.
“While we have a legal duty to hear views regarding local planning matters, we also have a responsibility to ensure that people are not using Council platforms to air views that are inappropriate.
“Golders Green has a long tradition of welcoming people from all over the world. We will continue to work closely with Barnet Police and the local community to ensure Barnet remains a safe and inclusive place for everyone.”
“While we have a legal duty to hear views regarding local planning matters, we also have a responsibility to ensure that people are not using Council platforms to air views that are inappropriate.
“Golders Green has a long tradition of welcoming people from all over the world. We will continue to work closely with Barnet Police and the local community to ensure Barnet remains a safe and inclusive place for everyone.”
Background information
The council has received an application requesting that the wording of the current planning permission for the building be varied. The wording of the variations has been requested by the applicant. The two variations requested are:
- Alter the wording of condition 1 to Increase opening hours by one hour from 8:00am - 11.30pm to 8:00am - 12.30am on any day of the week
- Alter the wording of condition 2 to read 'place of worship' rather than church.
The application was registered on Friday, 15 September. Anyone wishing to comment on the application can do so as part of the planning consultation. This consultation closes on Thursday, 26 October.
The application is currently being considered by planning officers and no date has been set for when it will be considered by the Planning Committee.
Before the objections were taken offline I had a look at a few. Two things struck me. Many were from people living outside the area, many living hundreds of miles away. The vast majority did not quote valid planning reasons. It strikes me as strange that people want to proscribe what other people can believe and where they can worship. If we want to deal with issues of Radicalisation, that must start in Mosques. Banning them will only inflame angry young men. I have a friend who is the chair of a Mosque.He has discussed at length the work his mosque does to ensure that young people make sensible choices. Opposing a mosque on the grounds some Muslims support extremists would be like calling for Catholic Churches to close because some of the congregation support Continuity IRA. We need to live and let live. If any objector has concerns based on hard facts, then they should report them to the security services. If they are simply prejudiced and think all Muslims are bad, then they are the problem. One final thing. London should not have religiously segregated areas. There should be no concept of Jewish areas, Muslim areas or anything else. We are one community and we are stronger together when we live and let live
1 comment:
Well said
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