Plans have been approved for a mosque and community centre in Dovercourt. 

Mutaher Hamif Hussain submitted blueprints to Tendring Council to convert a former dance studio in Main Road. 

As well as providing a place of worship, the space aims to promote a number of community services, including English classes, youth programmes, support groups, community meetings and more. 

Some residents voiced concerns over the lack of parking for users of the new centre. 

Harwich resident Hannah Luton said: “There are already issues with parking for the current businesses/residents and there has been none allocated for this building.

"I fear this would result in more illegal parking and will force people to park in nearby residential streets, which already have limited spaces.  

“I fear this could affect emergency vehicles accessing these roads safely.” 

Christina Richardson spoke against the proposal at a planning meeting. 

She said: "Is there a need for yet another community centre? Who will be responsible for managing potential issues over noise, parking, use of the building and so on?” 

Councillor Richard Everett also voiced concerns at the meeting. 

He said: “I naively thought that the purpose of planning was to improve the district.

"It seems to me that in this case, not only we’re not improving it, we’re actually making the situation worse because of parking provision that does not meet the basic standards that you would expect in Essex.” 

But Zoe Wilson, who "fully supported" the application, said parking had always been difficult in the area. 

She said: “Parking has always been an issue along this stretch of road, which is partly due to the fact that the parking restrictions are rarely enforced.

"I fail to see how potential worshippers attending the mosque/community centre is any different to those who used the same premises when it was a dance school.” 

Planning officers said the impact would be "neutral". 

Mr Everett also called for a limit on the number of people attending the mosque, but that was said to be “unreasonable” by planning officers. 

The planning committee voted six to one in favour of the proposal.