Al Noor Masjid failed to win permission for the conversion but is now appealing against a council enforcement notice, reports Nick Clark, Local Democracy Reporter
The owners of a mosque in Chadwell Heath are appealing against a council order to stop operating without planning permission.
In December, Barking and Dagenham Council refused to grant planning permission for the mosque at a former pub building called The Harrow in Billet Road.
In January, the town hall issued the owners with an enforcement notice.
The mosque, called Al Noor Masjid and Education Centre, says it wants to “revitalise” the former pub “into a thriving community hub”.
But council planning officers say the conversion “results in the unjustified loss of a public house”.
Al Noor Masjid applied for planning permission to change the use of the former pub into a place of worship in October last year.
In statements submitted with its application the mosque said the pub had closed in February 2022.
Al Noor Masjid said it didn’t have a permanent base, and had been hiring a hall from a nearby community centre once a week.
Its statements said it would offer services to people from “all backgrounds”.
These would include a soup kitchen for homeless people, domestic violence support, and regular litter-picking.
Twenty nearby residents wrote to support the change of use during a council consultation on the plans, and one objected.
Al Noor Masjid also said the vacant pub had been “marketed for continued use as a public house” for three years, without interest from any potential new owner.
London planning policy says applicants have to show they have taken “all reasonable measures” to preserve a building’s use as a pub before allowing it be converted into something else.
However, council planning officers refused to allow the change of use.
They recognised “the need for places of worship in the borough, particularly for the Muslim community”.
But they said Al Noor Masjid’s community needs assessment, which it provided with its application, was “lacking in detail”.
Planning officers also said the mosque had not provided enough evidence to show the building had been sufficiently marketed as a pub.
Al Noor Masjid had provided a letter from an independent valuer confirming the building was marketed for sale or lease since 1st February 2022 for a period of three years.
However, they said they also needed to see “a detailed marketing history, including proof of advertisements, enquiries, offers received, and the outcomes of those offers”.
Planning officers refused to approve the change of use on 16th December 2025.
It then issued an enforcement notice demanding that owners “cease the unauthorised uses as a place of worship” on 6th January.
It also demanded an end to the use of the building as an “unauthorised HMO” – house of multiple occupation.
Al Noor Masjid and Education Trust appealed to the government’s Planning Inspectorate against the enforcement notice on 10th February.
The Planning Inspectorate is expected to make a decision later this spring.
