THE first dedicated community centre and prayer hall for the Shia sect of Islam in Bolton has been given the goahead.

Bolton Council ’s planning committee rubber-stamped proposals, submitted by the Mustafa Welfare Society Bolton charity, to turn the former St Mark’s Primary School in Fletcher Street, Great Lever, into a dedicated centre with prayer and activity hall.

It will also be used as office space.

The school closed in the mid-1970s and the site has since been used by printing firm Blackshaw Kenyon.

Proposals include facilities for worship and the administration of last rights and funeral prayers, the hosting of children’s education classes, promotion of health awareness and job opportunities for young people.

According to the charity, all Bolton’s community and prayer centres serve the majority Sunni Muslim population.

Speaking at the planning meeting, Frank Whittaker, town planning consultant for the applicant, said the borough’s Shia population have previously been travelling as far as Oldham to use community facilities.

He said: “The Shia representation in this country is 10 to 15 per cent of the Muslim population, this will be their first and only community centre in Bolton.

“It’s on the fringe of an industrial location in an employment zone.”

Cllr Roger Hayes supported the application but said he had concerns about the centre’s proposed opening hours — which are intended to be 4am until 11pm to allow for prayers to take place five times a day—and asked why the hours could not simply be “one hour before dawn and one hour after dusk”.

Deputy planning chief Cllr Hanif Darvesh said that could lead to it being closed at 5pm in the winter meaning it could then be used for no other purpose in the evening.

The committee voted unanimously to approve the application.

Planning law does not distinguish between a mosque and prayer hall. Both are places of worship and fall into the “non-residential institutions” category under planning law. This also includes schools, clinics, museums, libraries, courts, public halls and nurseries.

A mosque is used primarily for religious activity and prayers are led by an Imam, they also have ancillary religious activity such as madrassas and talks during highlights of the religious calendar.

A prayer hall is where prayer can take place five times a day.