100-day Pledge: Arrange a meeting with planning officers and other specialists to understand Birmingham City Council's planning policies with regards to places of worship.
In making a pledge to meet with planning officers, I sought to understand the policies that would have an impact on what we build in our new centre. Unfortunately, I was only partially able to achieve this within my first 100 days of office. The reasons for this are as follows:- The architect and the property developer helping us to find a new site said that they had already made informal representations with the Council and would be able to guide us on the things we would have to bear in mind when submitting an application.
- Having taken the architect's advice, and since we already have meetings arranged with the local MP and Councillors, I feel it is better for the community that this not be completed immediately.
Despite being advised not to meet with planning officers yet, I knew through the research the committee had carried that there is a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) entitled Planning for Places of Worship and Faith-Related Community and Educational Uses. Therefore, in order to achieve the primary objective of understanding the actual policies that will affect our Community when submitting a planning application, I have summarised the key elements of the SPD in this article.
Introduction to the Council’s Policy
Over the last few years, there has been an increase in planning permission for new places of worship. Sometimes, communities are purchasing inappropriate sites or premises, and using them without permission out of necessity and convenience. Alternatively, they have to wait for considerable periods to source appropriate land and premises, usually at significant financial costs to them.
Therefore, Birmingham City Council’s objective in publishing the SPD is to help communities such as ours by giving clear guidance on the issues that must be addressed as part of submitting a planning application.
Please note that the policy applies only to faith-related community and educational uses where the proposals are linked to the use/function of an existing or proposed place of worship. This means that if we build certain facilities that are not strictly linked to our activities such as a community such as retail space, a different policy applies.
Summary of key elements that will affect our Community
| Policy Area | Policy details | Impact on Community |
| Location | The government is committed to reducing the reliance on cars and would therefore prefer if the site was local to the community it is serving. Predominantly residential areas are not suitable for places of worship if they attract large numbers of people. | Since people from all over Birmingham use our centre, we will need to produce a transport statement. This should outline the number of worshippers, with details of maximum occupancy and frequency of prayer time and how, in general, worshippers arrive at and depart from the premises, should be submitted with the application along with an indication of how this will be managed. |
| Predominantly residential areas are not suitable for places of worship if they attract large numbers of people. | This will limit the range of sites that are available to us if we decide to move. | |
| When considering a teaching (or similar) use, applicants should first make enquiries with local schools, local children’s/ community centres to ascertain whether rooms would be available for such purposes after school. |
Perhaps if we were to move and wanted to build a building similar to the Syeda Zainab Building, the Council would ask for evidence on why existing local facilities cannot meet our needs. | |
| Constituency need (wider) Proposals serving a larger population/wider need should be located within larger shopping districts with easy access to public transport and main arterial roads. | Again, this would impact us if we decided to move as we would have to find site that is accessible. | |
| Additional ancillary uses such as weddings, funerals and other festivals may be acceptable, depending on the proximity to residential or other sensitive uses, and highway/parking impacts. | If we stay at Clifton Road, we will have to demonstrate how building a banqueting/conferencing facility will impact traffic in the area. Also, if we move, we have to make sure that we find a site that does not get too congested if we have big events on. | |
| Low quality industrial sites may be considered if this does not impact on the City’s supply of industrial and/employment sites. Core employment land will be protected. | Impacts what kinds of sites are available if we decide to move. | |
| Design | It may be worth considering the building for multi-use, and as a base for community activities, which would assist in integrating the place of worship into the community. | This is quite a good piece of advice about trying to make our centre as flexible as possible but also trying to serve the wider community’s needs as well. This could perhaps be done by opening up some of our facilities (e.g. sports hall) to others. |
| The policy does not preclude the erection of minarets, domes or other additions, but such alterations should be carefully considered. | Although there is nothing in principle against building domes or minarets, the Council are looking for something that blends in well with the rest of the area. | |
| Noise relating to activities of a community as well as the noise associated with arriving and departing the centre must be carefully considered. | We will need to provide a statement showing how many people will attend the centre and when they will be attending. We will also be required to design the building in a way that minimises noise as much as possible. | |
| Parking |
· 1 space per 4.5sq.m for those providing for a wider need with additional considerations including provision for Ring and Ride and Special Needs Public Service Vehicles. · 1 space per 8 children for teaching and training. · To encourage alternative modes of travel, premises should provide secure cycle/motorcycle storage. · Where the building has additional uses including community and educational uses, additional minimum of 2 disabled parking bays near to entrances and to providing a parking bay for a minibus. |
At this stage, it is difficult to apply this policy to our new centre as we have not confirmed the dimensions but if this policy were to be applied strictly, based on the current information we would need a minimum of 300-350 spaces. |
What do we do with this information?
The information that the Council has produced is very comprehensive and gives us a good idea on what considerations we need to make when planning for the new centre. The Council has produced a checklist of things that must be done before submitting a planning application. We will therefore prepare any planning application in light of this information so that we can receive approval for any applications that we submit Inshallah. In the meantime, if you would like to read the checklist that the Council has produced, please see the SPD.Please do not hesitate to contact us by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you have any questions or comments.