In 2013 the Bashir Ahmed Masjid (Portswood Mosque) was completed. It is a lovely building. The planning application was approved on a condition that money was put forward by the applicant to provide important safety infrastructure, a barrier – to protect worshippers – from passing cars adjacent to the dropped kerb near the entrance.

The council received this money but the barrier was never provided. This was completely ignored by other serving councillors from other parties at the time. In 2017, during a period of racist attacks (mainly in the London area), there was an attack on worshippers leaving Porstwood Mosque – fortunately nobody was injured. Since then I have been working with the leaders of the Mosque to provide the protection they need.

The pavement is very narrow at this point and coincides with a fire hydrant, located right outside the gateway to the Mosque. The work was delayed due to other significant road and cycleway changes introduced during the COVID pandemic but the important barrier infrastructure will now be installed during May – June 2021. This will be completed in concert with the Portswood Corridor road and pavement improvement. It has been a long time coming but due to hard work and determination this long overdue work will be completed this summer.