IN future, before Ibrahim Ismail puts pen to paper he might take the trouble to check up on what I have actually said. The same applies to Neil Duffield.

At the planning meeting for the Astley Bridge mosque I said in my preamble:-

1.There can be no objection on planning grounds because this is a mosque as opposed to some other kind of development.

2.On the 2011 figures, there are some 32,500 Muslims in the borough served by some 22 mosques. It is perfectly reasonable therefore to say that further mosque ‘capacity’ is required.

3.The architecture is certainly striking and it would be a ‘landmark’ building in the area. As a place of worship, just as with cathedrals and churches, there is nothing strange that it should be so. In fact it would be nice if the developer offered to finance the sandblasting of the Iron Church across the road then there would be two contrasting landmark buildings.

The elephant in the town hall document was primarily a criticism of the Labour group and its antics in pouring money into favoured wards.

This has subsequently been supported by what Trevor Phillips, Deputy Chair of the Board of the National Equality Standard, has written: “While beautiful in theory, in practice multiculturalism has become a racket, in which self-styled community leaders bargain for control over local authority funds that would prop up their own status and authority. Far from encouraging integration, it has become in their interest to preserve the isolation of their ethnic groups.”

At the Wolfenden Street School planning meeting and following remarks by Cliff Morris and Nick Peel on non-planning matters I said: “Thousands of young men would be educated in isolation from young ladies of their own culture and boys and girls of other cultures. This would be socially divisive. We are going in the wrong direction — away from social integration.”

Once again, the left is trying to shut down a debate that needs to be had by throwing around the allegation of racism.

The settled policy of Bolton UKIP is that “We will support anything that promotes integration and oppose anything that promotes segregation.”

There is nothing racist about that but it does beg the question: “Who is promoting integration and who is promoting segregation?”

Councillor Paul Richardson

Ripon Close

Little Lever.