£7m flagship HQ is planned by charity

An artist’s impression of how Werneth House will look as a community centre.

PLANS for a £7 million multi-faith community centre in Oldham are set to be given the green light.

The UK Islamic Mission (UKIM) charity wants to transform vacant Werneth House into a multi-functional centre that will be used as its national headquarters.

Oldham Council’s planning committee will rule on the proposal tomorrow, with planning officers recommending it is approved.

The former Sun Alliance Insurance building in Manchester Road, Oldham, was bought by the organisation for just under £4 million, and it has spent more than £100,000 preparing the plans.

A further £3 million will be spent on turning it into a flagship building, open to people of all faiths.

UKIM says the unique development will create a “flourishing and self-sustaining, vibrant business and community centre”, housing a restaurant, gym, education centre, book and clothes shops, a welfare service and offices.

There would be a hall for seminars, weddings and other family and community functions, as well as education and business uses, plus a prayer space and a designated multi-faith area.

New front and side entrance lobbies and a central glazed courtyard would be constructed with space for 224 cars.

The development would bring 70 full and part-time jobs to Werneth, it is said.

The organisation already has 35 mosques across the UK, 6,000 children in education, 70 imams and 100 part-time teachers.

A planning reports states: “UKIM have been actively looking for a suitable base for a number of years. It is proposed to transform Werneth House into a multi-functional centre that will be a resource for academic and religious teaching, research training, social gathering and economic development as well as functioning as UKIM’s national headquarters.”

The council has been sent six letters of objection with concerns that the centre will only serve Muslims and with a new mosque being built near by, and another being extended, the development could be incorporated into these.

Other complaints include that the building should be used to provide large-scale, quality jobs and that an increase in traffic could put young children who play near by at risk. There are also worries about levels of noise.

But two letters of support say the centre will greatly improve the area, create jobs and provide much-needed services, while the vacant building has attracted litter, vandalism and anti-social behaviour.

Planning officers say they are satisfied the proposal is appropriate to the location, has good transport links and will not have an unacceptable impact on residential amenity or highway safety.

The building in its current condition has been assessed as unviable for continued employment use.

They add: “It will result in a modern scheme that will significantly enhance the character and appearance of the surrounding area... and will create a positive, striking, landmark building along a gateway into Oldham Town Centre.”