Does Cliff
know his priorities?
For over a year
Bolton Council has been conducting what it refers to a consultation exercise
called the Draft Allocations Plan. The Council’s reason for implementing the
Allocations Plan is apparently to establish parcels of land which would be
suitable for house building and incorporate public feed back into the
identification of such land.
On the
25th of November Anthony Backhouse wrote to the leader of Bolton
Council, Cliff Morris regarding an answer Mr Backhouse had received at one of
Bolton Boroughs Area Forums. Mr Backhouse had been attempting to establish why,
with land for house building at such a premium permission had been granted to
build a Mosque on land which could have accommodated 12 or 13 houses on Gilnow
Rd in Bolton. It was part of the reply from Councillor Kevin McKeon which
prompted Mr Backhouse to write to the leader of the council.
Mr Backhouse asked
Councillor McKeon ‘are you of the
opinion that providing provision for Mosques is as important as providing
housing?’ To which Councillor McKeon replied ‘yes I am’.
The implications which might derive from such
an outlook could be very serious; as outlined in this section of Mr Backhouse’s
letter: ‘I would like to point out that
it is my understanding that about 9% of the population of the Bolton Borough are
Muslim, and if Councillor McKeon’s opinion that providing Mosques and houses are
of equal importance is an opinion shared by yourself and those people
responsible for drawing up the Draft Allocations Plan I believe this should have
been factored into the consultation exercise. Having studied the Allocations
Plan I can see no reference to providing Mosques.’
On the
30th December Mr Backhouse received this two sentence reply from
Councillor Morris’s office: ‘The
Allocations Plan is only required to show land set aside for housing. As you
have noted it does not nor should it include places of worship.’
So the leader of
Bolton Council has overtly avoided being candid about whether he agrees with his
Labour colleague that building Mosques is as important as building houses. With
so many Mosques currently dominating Bolton’s skyline Cliff Morris’s evasive
approach to such a serious question must be viewed as being of grave concern,
not only to all those people who do not whish to see our country dominated by
Islamic theocracy but also to those in Bolton who believe the Draft Allocations
Plan might be little more than a PR sham.
