People attending Friday afternoon prayer at the Masjid-e-Salaam Mosque in Fulwood will be asked to use an alternative place of worship if the Watling Street Road venue gets too busy.

It is hoped the measures, coupled with split prayer times, will help to finally allow a replacement mosque to be built on the site after more than a year of debate.

The plans were put on hold at the end of March so planners could find out how many households in the Fulwood area would be likely to use the mosque.

Agents acting for the applicants, Preston Muslim Society, said many locals work elsewhere and therefore used other mosques.

However, those most likely to attend the popular Friday sessions are people who work in Fulwood at businesses such as Royal Mail, Asda and Royal Preston Hospital.

Faisal Mansoor, mosque trustee, said prayer times had been split – with one starting at 12.45pm and one at 1.30pm – to ensure worshippers did not all arrive at the same time.

And car park stewards would be instructed to direct people to one of the three nearby mosques in Deepdale if it was busy.

He said: "If we feel at some point on a particular Friday that the car park is full, we can politely suggest to them that they either come back for the second session, or we can say there's alternative mosques within five minutes drive.

"We're quite hopeful that we should get permission for the building of the new mosque. We've addressed all the concerns of the local residents and planning officers."

The application is for a three-storey mosque, housing a 110sq m prayer hall, four classrooms and parking for 43 cars.

The council's planning committee will make a decision on May 19.

>> Vote in our latest web poll

>> Have your say on our special traffic and travel rantline