Another bit of green and pleasant land about to be despoiled by yet another mosque.

The news that East Renfrewshire council in Scotland has stitched up a deal that handed two acres of land worth approximately £2million to an Islamic group so that they can build a mosque, is yet another example of local government appeasement of Islam. There may be a tie-in between the mosque being granted permission and permission being granted for housing on the rest of the 40 acre site in Newton Mearns, which is especially worrying. It looks like somebody will be making a lot of money out of this transaction, and there may be grave concerns among many people, that because the mosque and the housing applications appear to be linked, then it may not be Scots who get the homes, but that an attempt will be made to create yet another hostile Islamic ghetto.

The more I read this story, the more concerns I have. Firstly the transaction is a ‘fire sale’ by the receivers of a development company in trouble, secondly the council seem to be tripping over themselves to find a place to put a mosque, when they should be telling the Muslims to go take a running jump. This does beg the question: Would the council be running round looking for premises for a chapel or church or synagogue? Probably not would be my judgement.

There are other things that really set off alarm bells about this project, in particular why is the name of the developer not known? If the project for the mosque and the homes is such a done deal, why has not been released? Have East Renfrewshire Council and KPMG knowledge about the developer that may enrage locals? This case is certainly raising a lot of questions.

Peter Swindon of The Glasgow Evening Times said:

“The Evening Times has learned that a group known as Muslims of East Renfrew- shire is to be handed a £2million plot in Newton Mearns free of charge.

It is hoped the deal will smooth the way for a housing development at Patterton Farm, a greenbelt site near the station.

The area’s 3000 Muslims have long fought for a mosque in Newton Mearns, but a campaign against proposals to build near Eastwood High School was hijacked by far-right extremists the Scottish Defence League.

The planning application was blocked by East Renfrewshire Council earlier this year.

But a corner of 40-acre Patterton Farm has now emerged as a site.

Rukhsar Ahmed, general secretary of Muslims of East Renfrewshire, said: “There is now the possibility of an Islamic Centre at Patterton Farm in Newton Mearns.

“We are in the process of finalising the entity and the organisation around it that would hopefully drive the project.

“We are looking at middle of August to have things in the right state to engage with local community and other stakeholders.”

Why are they waiting until the middle of August to ‘engage’ with the local community? Is there something horrendous about this development or its backers that they want to hide from locals, so that they want to wait until mid-August and present local people with a fait accompli?  

Also it should be remembered that August is a good time for a council to present a fake ‘consultation’ to locals, as many people will be on holiday or otherwise busy with things like childcare and work to get involved with putting their view over in the consultation. By the time people realise what is happening the consultation period will have closed and they will lose their chance to have a say.  It is looking very much like the locals have been shafted here by various pro-Islam interests. 

The Glasgow Evening Times added:

“Administrators KPMG took control of the site when land development firm Elphinstone Estates went bust in 2010.

An East Renfrewshire Council insider, who asked not to be named, explained: “KPMG is the liquidator for Elphinstone, which had a deal with the farmer to get planning permission.

“An agreement has now been reached with KPMG that an application will be submitted for 300 to 400 houses.

“Two acres will be handed over free of charge to the Muslim community to build a mosque.

“The application is imminent and KPMG is clever enough to know they need to give the council a carrot, because it is greenbelt land.

“It is not in the local plan but the council could probably cope with a few hundred houses there, if it solves the problem of where to put a mosque.”

A source close to a house builder which is eyeing the site said it was “all tied up” but that the developer was still unknown. They added: “You are talking about serious money for that land – up to £1m an acre.”

Blair Nimmo, joint administrator and head of restructuring at KPMG in Scotland said: “We are supportive of proposals from the Muslim community to create a mosque in East Renfrewshire.

“This would form part of a broader development of the East Patterton area in Newton Mearns.

“We are in discussions with a number of interested parties.”

There is no other way to describe the actions of East Renfrewshire council than as appeasement. How else would you describe an elected body running round desperately trying to find a place for a mosque that nobody wants apart from the Muslims? I noticed that KPMG are trying to spin this as a positive part of developing this area of Newton Mearns, but I would ask them, have they ever seen an area that has benefited from the retrograde ideology of Islam? If Islam was such a boon to positive development, then by now there would be an Islamic world which would have been able to build a colony on Mars for example, instead of just being a collection of backward states, horrific war zones and violent ghettos.

It will not surprise readers to hear that the political composition of East Renfrewshire Council is dominated by Labour and the SNP, both parties with an odious history of appeasement of Islamic interests. This case shows the truth in the phrase ‘If you want a mosque, and all the troubles it will surely bring, as your neighbour, then vote Labour.’

Link

Original story from Glasgow Evening Times

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/mosque-site-linked-to-homes-development-172193n.24794958