Neighbours pleased as council orders Sikhs to shut temple

BULLDOZERS are set to move in at a Sikh temple which has been ordered to shut after lengthy protests from neighbours.

Oxford’s Sikh community claim they will be left ‘homeless’ after Oxford City Council decided they can no longer use the house in Marston as a temple.

Since 2006, Sikhs have been using 69 Cherwell Drive to hold weekly prayer meetings.

But they have now been ordered to stop using it as a place of worship with immediate effect.

City councillors decided they would not be allowed any more time to look for an alternative to the ‘unsuitable’ property and would have to stop using it for worship immediately.

The Sikh community has been looking for new premises since January 2009, when the city council refused an application for retrospective planning permission to change the use of the three-bedroom semi-detached house from a place of residence to a place of worship.

with thanks : oxfordtimes : link above for detailed news.