Gold Coast City Council gets record 2200 objections to plans for a mosque at Currumbin Waters

A MOSQUE planned for the southern Gold Coast has sparked a record number of objections.

Unholy war breaks out over GC mosque

A MOSQUE planned for the southern Gold Coast has sparked a record number of objections as opponents campaign against it on social media and build a fighting fund.

The Gold Coast City Council has received about 2200 ­objections after advertising the plans by the Salsabil Charitable Organisation for the “place of worship” in Currumbin Waters.

Those objections have ranged from concerns about the hours of operation, increased noise, loss of amenity, increased traffic and “social upheaval” created by having the mosque next to a school and dance studio.

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Objectors have also argued on economic grounds, maintaining that an industrial area should have sites available for light industries.

More than 4000 people have also signed a petition ­opposing the mosque, to be built inside a warehouse at the Villiers and Coghill drives site.

The previous record was a 1600-signature petition and 539 objections when the council sought community input on a mosque that was later ­approved in a residential street at Worongary.

FACING OPPOSITION: The shed situated along the corner of Villers Drive and Coghill Drive in Currumbin Waters which is proposed to be converted to a mosque. Image from RPDATA

On the anti-Currumbin Waters mosque petition page, organisers wrote: “Please feel free to make a donation even if only $1 (because) every cent counts as we need to get legal representation to fight the ­development. We also will be in need of funds to help spread the word via media.”

A Bulletin report last month outlined how the mosque would operate seven days a week between 7am and 10pm but require 4am services.

Planning documents showed council officers were concerned about security, and town planners for the applicant had responded by detailing how safety officers would escort children around the site for dawn prayers.

PROPOSED: The site of a proposed mosque for Currumbin Waters. Image from RPDATA

Council sources said the ­applicant had agreed to extend the deadline for objections to August 1 after council had a glitch with its computer system regarding planning issues.

Meanwhile, city councillors have intervened after a Preserving Islamic Rights on the Gold Coast Facebook page was launched.

More than 100 people have responded with comments on the page, which has a head shot of Mayor Tom Tate smiling as Muslims in the background bow in prayer.

In a post last Wednesday, the page administrator wrote: “It is with great pleasure that we today announce plans to build the largest Super-Mosque in the Southern Hemisphere right here in the sunny fun loving tourist hub of Surfers Paradise.”

Area city councillor Chris Robbins said she contacted Facebook to have remarks ­attributed to her removed.

“It’s a bogus site,” she said. “It is not set up by the Islamic community.

“They posted a statement attributed to myself that was totally baseless and false. I contacted Facebook and asked them to remove it and they did.”

Islamic Society of Gold Coast president Hussein Goss slammed the Facebook page, which was created during the final days of the holy month of Ramadan.

“It has not come from our society ... is a totally unnecessary thing to happen, especially in the last days of Ramadan,” he said.