Church-to-mosque change approved

The mosque will hold up to 500 worshippers

Planners in Lincoln have given the go-ahead for plans to turn a Grade II-listed former church into a mosque.

St Matthew's, on Boultham Park Road, has been empty after structural problems and low attendance saw it placed on the city's at-risk register.

The timber and corrugated iron building dates from 1912.

The Islamic Association of Lincoln already owns the church and said it would make the building safe. The mosque will hold up to 500 worshippers.

Planners recommended the council approve the work because they said it would keep the building in a use similar to that for which it was intended, and would have very little effect on its outside appearance.

Some residents objected to the plans because they said local roads could become congested.