Pendle Council makes decision over highly-contentious plans for faith centre at Nelson's Cemetery Lodge
An application to create a multi-faith centre that attracted 200 objections has been thrown out by council bosses.
Last week the Post revealed that a Mr S Choudrey of Brierfield wanted to carry out the conversion at Cemetery Lodge, Walton Lane, within the grounds of Nelson Cemetery, applying to Pendle Borough Council to convert it from a dwelling into a ‘multi-faith centre’.
He said that the building would not be extended, nor would there be any significant changes to its façade or footprint, but gave very few details have been given over the proposed use, with hours of operation not filled in on the application form, and no details of access or parking made publicly available.
Decision
Hundreds of people objected to the plans, and now Pendle Borough Council has deemed the application “invalid”, though the reasons for the decision have not been made public.
Many objectors expressed concerned about traffic in the area and potential for noise nuisance from the centre. One comment stated: “We live off Walton Lane and object most strongly to the proposed changes to the property. Parking is a total nightmare when a funeral is being held and double parking causes total gridlock. Also it's adjacent to the High School and is so dangerous when pupils are trying to cross the road. These proposed changes will only add to the volume of traffic and needs to be refused.”
Pendle Council’s Environmental Health team also raised concerns, and offered to visit the site. They said: “We would have (a) few concerns about from the premises, with regards to noise, hours of operation, use of the outside space, and would want (to) prevent the use of speaker or tanoy’s outside of the building.”