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MOSQUES MISS CASH HANDOUTS
26/ 3/2004
NORTH west mosques are missing out on £ millions of lottery cash
available for expansion and urgent repairs to places of
worship.
Though Islam is the region's fastest growing faith it has not
received one penny of the millions in lottery money that goes to
support religious institutions.
Instead the vast bulk of funding goes to the declining Church of
England.
This is partly because of a grading system which excludes most
mosques, Hindu temples and other south Asian religious places of
worship and partly because many Muslim or Hindu religious leaders
are not aware the funds are available - and they are massive.
Some mosque leaders may also have a problem with lottery cash
because it is raised from a form of gambling.
Last month grants worth £1.3 million went exclusively to C-of-E
churches for urgent repairs or expansion.
The two biggest gainers were St Mary's in Widnes, which got
£353,000, and All Saints in Bury which received £249,000.
The domination of the Church of England is nothing new.
Last year only 10 per cent of grants went to non-Church of England
buildings. Three Jewish synagogues and one Buddhist temple did
receive financial help but no mosques or Hindu temples.
The two bodies in charge of allocating the lottery millions, the
Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage, have told Asian News
that they would welcome applications from mosques and temples to
reflect Britain's changing religious 'map'.
Said an English Heritage spokeswoman: "The grants are for the
buildings and not the religion and any religious body can apply. We
would love and welcome applications from mosques and temples but
one problems is that until recently they have to be from grade 1 or
grade 11 star listed buildings.
"These are building of great architectural and historic value, many
of then from the medieval period and of course mosques in the UK do
not date that far back and so do not qualify."
But there is a glimmer of hope.
Grade 11 religious listed building have just been included in the
scheme.
These are often more modern buildings and some mosques converted
out of existing churches or notable buildings may be
eligible.
And there are other lottery funds available.
Said a Heritage Lottery spokeswoman: "While the grading system may
exclude many mosques from the places of worship scheme, there are
other funds available under our community development programmes.
There still has to be some element of heritage involved and the
places concerned must be open to the public. We would welcome
applications from non-Christian bodies and our community
development teams are here to help and advise."
The chairman of the Lancashire Council of Mosques, Ibrahim Master
said his organisation was simply not aware of the funding
scheme.
He said: "If I have a criticism of English Heritage and the
Heritage Lottery Fund it is that they have not reached out to the
Muslim community to inform us of the money available and what we
have to do to get it.
"There are mosques in the north west that have taken over existing
Christian places of worship and with such large sums on offer it
might be worth taking over listed buildings and applying for
grants."
Religious bodies interested in finding out more about the scheme
can contact the Heritage Lottery information team on 0207 591
6043.
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