Outer Hebrides to get its first mosque after council approval

The council have given its approval for a mosque in Stornoway. Picture: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

The Outer Hebrides is to get its first mosque after councillors unanimously backed the plans.

Proposals to redevelop a semi-derelict store building in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis have been approved by the islands’ local authority, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar.

Consent had previously been given for a “community centre” to be used for religious practice in the James Street building.

But a new application for planning permission was submitted in June this year, expressly calling it a mosque.

Local authority officers recommended the plans should be approved in a report which went before members ahead of the vote on Thursday.

The Western Isles, which last year welcomed six Syrian refugee families, has a small Muslim community.