Terms agreed for new £4m mosque

London, UK - Muslim leaders and a Berkshire council have agreed the final terms for a £4m mosque to be built in Reading.

The mosque will be built on the corner of Wokingham Road and Green Road.

The new building will include a prayer house, washing facilities, classrooms for male and female students and more than 100 parking spaces.

Funding is being raised by the Muslim community. When it is built the Alexandra Road mosque will be shut. A report is due before the cabinet.

'Community integration'

The building, classical in design with a silver dome in the centre, will provide a social as well as religious focus for the Muslim community across Reading, the borough council said.

Alexandra Road mosque, which will return to residential use, had inadequate parking facilities - there will be 115 parking spaces at the new building.

David Sutton, Reading Borough Council leader, said: "This partnership between the council and the Muslims of Reading sends a strong message about community integration and social harmony in our town, and I am very proud about that.

"I look forward to the grand opening of another new Reading landmark."

Negotiations between the Muslim community and the local authority have been on-going since the announcement in October 2006 of the establishment of a new and more inclusive body of trustees for the new mosque, overseeing the bringing together of Alexandra Road and South Street Mosque.