Islamic faith centre approved by councillors

Richard Youle Local Democracy Reporter

Listed building consent to create a youth activity centre, part-time education centre and a place of worship for the teaching of the Islamic faith has been approved by councillors.

The development has been taking shape at Bethel Chapel, Tycoch, Swansea, and concerns about unauthorised work were reported to the council in 2024. Council officers visited the grade two-listed building and found pews and entrance gates and had been removed and excavation work carried out at the rear.

A report before the council’s planning committee said this unauthorised work was stopped and the owners told to hold onto the removed pews and apply to the authority for listed building consent.

Committee members heard more about the Carnglas Road project at a meeting on February 3 and the 118 objections to it, some of which related to an earlier version of the application before them.

The report said: “Complaints in regard to the fact that work has already been undertaken on site is noted, however planning regulations allow for retrospective applications following unauthorised work.”

Planning officers stressed the application was seeking listed building consent to retain and complete internal alterations rather than a change of use, and that things like road safety and parking weren’t material considerations for the committee.

“We are only considering (if) the proposed internal changes are acceptable to the fabric and appearance of the listed building,” said a planning officer.

Some of the removed pews will be reinstated on the ground floor and new first floor of the building, he said, and the organ and pulpit will be retained.

Neil Watkins, speaking on behalf of residents and relatives of people buried in the chapel graveyard, said the applicants had shown “scant regard” for the building’s special character and were in his view neither “responsible nor considerate developers”.

Mr Watkins questioned aspects of the heritage impact assessment submitted on behalf of the applicants including that the repurposed building would not lead to unacceptable parking or traffic problems. He said local people challenged this and wondered why council highways officers hadn’t been consulted.

“To sum up, this application would would certainly harm the special character of the chapel and cemetery, which are inextricably linked,” said Mr Watkins.

Phillip Johnson, of Architectural Design Services (Swansea) Ltd, wrote the heritage impact assessment and said he had been working closely with council officers and that the application comprising 82 documents was “thorough and concise”.

Ward councillor Mike Day addressed the committee and said the application had “attracted a great deal of tension” and that the building “clearly has a special place in people’s hearts”. He requested a site visit before any decision was made.

Committee members narrowly vote against a site visit proposal and, after discussing the application and asking officers questions about things like how the work would be monitored, went on to vote in favour of the application by nine votes to one.

“If the application was rejected we have to consider what would happen to the building then,” said Cllr Peter Black, who said he’d been the chapel many times in the past.

Cllr Mary Jones said she’d played in the graveyard as a child. “It’s very, very sad that we are losing these chapels but people are not going to use them,” she said. The application would retain the building as a place of worship, she said, rather than it becoming flats for example.

The chapel is said to date from around 1870, replacing an earlier one from 1770, and was listed by Welsh heritage body Cadw in 1993. It has an open plan hall and modern kitchen extension.

Applicant Alaa Tahir, who wasn’t at the meeting, must comply with several planning conditions, including providing details of the pews to be replaced and a requirement to relocate a boiler that has been installed behind the organ.