'No Masjid': Building earmarked for county's first mosque sprayed with graffiti

Stephen Price

A council-owned building earmarked for a Welsh county's first mosque has been spray painted with Christian crosses and the words 'No Masjid'.

Monmouthshire Council’s ruling cabinet agreed in May to grant a 30-year lease to the Monmouthshire Muslim Community Association who plan to use the former Abergavenny library as a mosque and cultural centre. It stands to be the county’s first mosque.

Passers-by contacted Nation.Cymru on the evening of 10 June, following the discovery of the graffiti, featuring the words 'NO' repeated twice, along with Christian crosses, 'OOORR' and the words 'No Masjid' (Masjid meaning 'place of worship' or 'mosque').

The decision to allow the former library building to be used as a mosque could be placed on hold this week, however.

Acting on concerns raised throughout the community, three councillors have “called in” the decision meaning it will be reviewed at a special meeting of the council’s place scrutiny committee.

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Flaws

The nine member, cross party committee, will have to decide whether to accept the cabinet’s original decision to grant the lease or if they agree there were flaws in the decision making process they can ask the cabinet to look at the decision again.

The committee also has the power to refer the decision to the full council, which would then have to look at how the decision was made and decide whether to accept it or send it back to the cabinet to reconsider.

If the cabinet does have to take the decision again it must do so within ten working days and will be asked to consider the comments made but can stick by its original decision, amend it or overturn it.

Conservative councillors Louise Brown and Rachel Buckler, who represent Shirenewton and Devauden in the south of Monmouthshire, and Llanelly Hill independent Simon Howarth called the decision, made by the Labour-led cabinet, in for review.

Their request highlights three grounds for doing so which are a claimed “lack of proper scrutiny/due process and community consultation”, how the building was marketed and their concerns over “best value” at the £6,000 a year lease.

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Highest scoring

When the cabinet agreed to grant the lease it was stated the accepted bid was the highest scoring on the application process that was intended to explore opportunities to maximise social benefit and generate a financial return from an otherwise empty building.

The cabinet was also told 30-year leases were common and the cabinet had declared the building, that was last used as a pupil referral unit, as surplus in November when it granted the council’s landlord services permission to market the building as available to lease.

It was one of three thousand libraries funded by Scottish American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie - though it closed as a library in 2015 when the service transferred to the town hall.

Councillors were also told commercial uses, which could be allowed under the restrictions of the building’s covenant, had been considered and the agreed rent was said to be in the context of “significant investment” required, from the lease holders, in the 120-year-old grade II listed building.

The call in also states “community engagement is required” as no planning permission is needed as there is no change in the use class of the building.

The special meeting will take place at Monmouthshire County Hall in Usk, on Wednesday, June 11 at 5.30pm.

"What is the council thinking?"

An Abergavenny resident who lives nearby spoke to Nation.Cymru, relaying concerns from other members of the community.

They shared: "We were completely shocked to find out that this special building, a focal point for the entire town, would end up being a place of worship, and have so many unanswered questions.

"There has been no openness over the process whatsoever - our Council tax is going up and up, and they're charging six grand a year for this grand building - less than our residents pay to rent a one bed flat - and assuring it for 30 years?!

"Our churches are losing numbers, surely local Muslims could just buy a building themselves if there's such need? And to say it's for community use, come on... The Council, and by extension, the mostly atheist folk of Monmouthshire, have no business subsidising any faith - shame on Labour for this antagonistic back-room decision."

When asked about the graffiti, they suggested that there is local suspicion about its source, responding: “I was very sad to see the old library targeted, like many from the town it played an important role in my early life, but like many here I’d never heard of that particular term used for a mosque so questions have been asked about who is actually behind it, and their motives, with more than one suggesting it strange and supporting a victim narrative.”

Another resident was more sympathetic about the choice to grant a 30 year lease to Monmouthshire's Muslim community, however, saying: "I'm appalled at this cowardly act of vandalism. It reflects a very small minority of people, not the silent majority of good people who make up this town of sanctuary in a nation of sanctuary.

"I'm thrilled that Muslims across the county will have somewhere to worship, and this has only made me more convinced that this use for the building was the right choice."