OUTRAGED Lye residents say 30 years of harmony has been wiped out after Dudley Council approved plans for a mammoth new mosque overlooking their homes - despite fierce opposition to the scheme.

People living in Morvale Gardens and surrounding streets have been left “absolutely enraged” since the council’s development control committee gave the thumbs up to the plan submitted by members of Lye Ghausia Mosque to replace their old place of worship with a bigger and better £1.5m mosque with minaret, new community hall and new car park.

So incensed by the decision - which they say was taken with little concern for residents’ objections - they have collected a 184-name petition in just two days, which they have sent off to council chief executive John Polychronakis.

They are urging him to review the decision and for further conditions to be imposed - such as allowing 24-hour access across the site to the High Street for residents and for a solution to be found to tackle parking problems.

Resident David Jerrom said: “People are absolutely enraged. It’s appalling that Dudley Council could speak to the people at the mosque about this but they wouldn’t speak to the residents.

“The strength of feeling about this is incredible. The way we have been treated has really annoyed people. It’s Dudley Council’s fault - not the mosque members and the Muslim community.

“Thirty years of harmony here of people living together has gone.”

He said residents feel the new mosque and the proposed minaret would dominate the area and overshadow homes.

They also fear existing parking problems will be exacerbated and people in Morvale Gardens, many of them elderly, would be forced to walk more than a half a mile further to get into the High Street if they can no longer take a short cut across the site.

However - Lye councillor Mohammed Hanif said mosque leaders had listened to residents’ concerns and had agreed to lower the minaret, to allow access across the site between 7am and 11pm and to work on a traffic management scheme to solve parking issues.

He added: “This will definitely improve the area; the mosque leaders have looked at all avenues to keep the neighbourhood happy.”

He said the new venue will not attract worshippers from other areas and it will be funded entirely by members of the mosque and the community.

A spokesman for Dudley Council said: "We have received a petition and it will be passed onto the appropriate department."