Councillors consider legal challenge over mosque decision

Twm Owen, local democracy reporter

Three councillors who failed in a bid to overturn a decision paving the way for a county’s first mosque could launch a legal challenge.

The two Conservative county councillors and one independent, as well as a local resident, are threatening to seek a judicial review of the decision to lease a disused former library to the Monmouthshire Muslim Community Association who intend using the 120-year-old grade II-listed building as community centre and mosque.

Councillors Louise Brown, Rachel Buckler and independent Simon Howarth, along with local resident John Hardwick, are being supported by the Christian Legal Centre after contacting advocacy body Christian Concern.

The non-profit Christian Concern said the four have formally notified Monmouthshire County Council they intend seeking a judicial review unless the council withdraws the 30-year lease and initiates, what it calls, “a new, transparent tender process”.

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Questions

A statement issued by Christian Concern details questions over the £6,000 a year lease which were answered when a council committee considered the “call in” the three had requested of the Labour-led cabinet’s decision to grant the lease.

It has also quoted Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, who said: “This case raises serious questions about transparency, fairness, and the proper use of public assets. The people of Abergavenny deserve to be heard, and their concerns must not be brushed aside. We will stand with these councillors as they urge the council to be democratically accountability and to abide by the rule of law.”

According to the statement the only issue raised in the pre-action letter, signalling their intent to pursue a legal challenge, that wasn’t considered during the call in review are “concerns over religious impartiality”.

Cllr Brown, who represents Shirenewton near Chepstow, is quoted as saying: “Council taxpayers need to know that the council is adhering to its values of openness, transparency and fairness in its use of limited council resources and not operating in a hidden unaccountable secretive way.”

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Dissatisfied

Devauden member Cllr Buckler told the Local Democracy Reporting Service she and her colleagues were dissatisfied with how concerns were addressed during the call in, which included part of a meeting being held in confidential session.

Cllr Buckler described the Christian Legal Centre as a “very good organisation” and “resourced” and that it “makes sense to collaborate with them” but said the challenge isn’t a religious issue.

She said: “This is not about Christianity it is about fairness and a transparent process.”

She added: “Our whole point is no organisation should be treated with any more favour than any other. It is not about a Christian agenda it’s about the fact a lease was awarded, as far as we can see, for a peppercorn rent for 30 years for an incredibly important civic building that was given to the people by the Carnegie Trust in 1905.”

'Muddled'

Reverend Gareth Wilde, a retired Baptist minister and a Labour member of Abergavenny Town Council, who spoke in favour of granting the lease to the Muslim Community Association at the county council’s call in meeting in June, said he found it “surprising” the challenge was being supported by a body that describes itself as advocating for Christians.

He said: “It seems more like a governance or spending issue. It does seem a little bit muddled.”

Rev Wilde, who said he was speaking in a personal capacity, said he’d given the historical and Christian arguments for why the lease should be granted when he addressed the committee.

He said: “The bottom line is Abergavenny has got a rich history of non-conformism dating right back to the 17th century when Christians in Abergavenny fought peacefully for religious freedom. That’s Baptists, Congregationalists, Quaker or other chapels. My feeling is the Monmouthshire Muslim Community Association are only asking to be treated the same.”

Rev Wilde added he also believed the Muslim association should be given a |”priority” as they currently do not have a dedicated place of worship, having to rent the Catholic church hall.

“I preach in a number of churches locally and I’ve not heard any negative views from anybody in those churches or chapels,” added Rev Wilde.

Cabinet

The call in committee agreed the lease decision should be sent back to the cabinet, which stood by its original decision to award the lease to the community association that will also be responsible for repairs and maintenance. The cabinet member responsible, Ben Callard, described that as a “huge commitment” that made the lease unattractive to businesses.

The committee was told no planning permission was required as places of worship and libraries are in the same use class while the tender process, which ran for four weeks in December 2024, was also defended as having prompted a number of competitive bids and the council said there was no need for an independent valuation as the authority had the capacity to do so itself.

In the build up to the call in meeting the former library was vandalised with anti-Muslim messages and ‘No Masjid” sprayed on one of its walls and crosses beside the doors along with the word ‘no’. Masjid is Arabic for place of worship or mosque.

The library, built for £4,000 and funded by the Carnegie Foundation established by Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, closed in 2015 when the service transferred to the town hall.

According to Christian Concern the council has until Friday, September 19 to respond to the letter before any formal legal proceedings begin.

A statement from the council said: "Monmouthshire County Council confirms that it has received a pre-action protocol letter and will respond in due course. The Council cannot provide further comment in relation to an on-going legal matter."