A NEW £2 million mosque could be built in York under plans unveiled by the city’s Muslim community.

The York Mosque And Islamic Centre wants to replace its current building in Bull Lane because it is becoming too small to accommodate the growing number of people attending its main prayer times.

The design of the new mosque, which would be built on the same site off Lawrence Street, includes a small central dome flanked by two minarets, a prayer hall, classroom, library and indoor community hall which children will be able to use for sporting activities. There would be no calls to prayer or any other amplified sound from the building.

The current mosque has been used for more than 25 years and has also been run as a community centre, with most of those attending being students. It is also often used by Muslim pilots on training assignments at RAF bases across North Yorkshire, with prayers taking place five times a day and the main Friday lunchtime prayer regularly attracting between 300 and 400 people.

In a planning application to City of York Council, the mosque’s agents, Design Studio-North, said: “The existing buildings have reached the point where they struggle to accommodate the peak demand.

“The mosque has maintained and refurbished the accommodation over the years, but the buildings have now come to the end of their natural lives and the construction of replacement facilities is the optimum way forward for the mosque to contribute on the site.”

He said the York muslim community considered themselves to be good neighbours and had taken great care to design a new mosque of appropriate scale and appearance.

The firm said the new mosque’s tallest features, its two minarets, would be shorter than the spires of churches in the area, and it would have 50 parking spaces and a covered area for 24 bikes.

The current building also houses a toddler group and community events as well as an annual summer barbecue.

A decision on the plan is expected to be made in October.