ONCE again, we have a planning issue that is being objected to by many people.

Yet again it is being turned into a racist issue when there are really serious reasons and objections to the proposed mosque in Blackburn Road.

Time and again the racist cry is used to shut down all sensible debate with matters that are not racist but genuine concerns by many people regarding the area they live, work and drive in.

And not forgetting thousands of people who commute along this road — and this includes many Muslims who live locally but fear speaking out, as explained to me by a Muslim friend.

Right-wing racists will always latch on to this sort of issue.

There are also unbalanced, partial opinions of letter writers like David Tucker. I will guess that Mr Tucker lives nowhere near the proposed mosque and neither uses Blackburn Road nor Halliwell Road to commute to work.

Is Mr Tucker aware of The Bolton News report in 2009 when the Tramways Hotel applied for a alcohol re-licence to return it to a public hotel and bar after being closed for some years?

The application was opposed with a 200-name petition, spearheaded by Labour Cllr Sufrana Bashir-Ismail, with one of the major complaints being, in the councillor’s words, “road safety and parking problems”, and then being “disappointed” with approval being given.

The planned mosque is for 1,000 prayer mats, plus a Madrasah facility for 19 classrooms with parking for 80 cars.

The Tramways was a few bedrooms and a bar that could fit in no more than perhaps 80 people and has been there 100 years with no problems.

The Tramways is 50 yards from the proposed mosque, so my question is this, Mr Tucker and Cllr Bashir-Ismail: “What’s changed?”

Have the traffic problems in Blackburn Road gone away, fewer cars, fewer people perhaps?

The Blackburn Road Mosque is only one of three areas in Halliwell that are soon to be gridlocked at certain times of the day, with over-sized buildings being built or extended, having inadequate parking to suit.

These three areas will have major traffic problems in a few years without any doubt but, hopefully, Bolton Council won’t be around to try and put it right.

Would the council have approved a cinema or nightclub with a capacity of 1,500 people, with 50 per cent, possibly, arriving by car and only 80 parking places to put them in. I think not!

Thomas Ryder Bolton