Islamic community centre approved for business park site

Kieran Molloy, Local Democracy Reporter

An office of “excessive size” is set to become an Islamic community space.

Cardiff Council has approved plans to establish an Islamic Educational and Welfare Centre (IEWC) in St Mellons Business Park.

According to the application the centre would provide “a broad range of community, educational, cultural, welfare, and training functions”.

The site itself is a “two-storey headquarters-style building” with “generous on-site car parking”.

Opening hours of the site are given as 7am to 12am to “allow the community to make full use of the facility”, adding: “It is not anticipated to generate adverse environmental impacts.”

The outside of the building will remain unchanged as no external works were proposed in the application.

The vision and objectives of the IEWC are given as: “[To] offer community education, youth empowerment, intercultural engagement, and lifelong learning.

“[To] provide a base for interfaith dialogue and programmes tackling Islamophobia.

“[To] deliver women’s development initiatives and community wellbeing services.

“[To] operate a foodbank and provide welfare support and counselling.

“[To] run youth clubs, Scouts activities, and safe non-alcoholic social programmes.”

The property was on the market for two and a half years.

During this time only four viewings “progressed to a serious stage”.

Reasons given in the application for the non-progression were given as the property’s “excessive size for typical office requirements”, lack of demand for “secondary out-of-town office stock”, an “unsuitable” layout for “proposed specialist users”, and a “preference for more modern accommodation”.

Because of this use of the property as an office space is “no longer viable”.

According to the officer’s report the new use would not result in “any unreasonable loss of amenity to adjacent business occupiers”.

Condition

A condition on the application passed by the council restricts the use of the property to “community educational, cultural, welfare, training, nursery/creche, gymnasium or health/medical purposes” and to prevent any future changes of use within its new class such as “use of the entire premises as a place of worship”.

Internally the building will be “used flexibility” to include a nursery, classrooms, prayer spaces (ancillary to education and welfare activities), multipurpose halls, a gym, and youth, women’s, and community programme spaces among other uses.