PLANS to build a Sikh temple on a Banbury estate will destroy vital green space and could cause racial aggravation according to angry residents.

More than 200 people from Ruscote and Hardwick gathered at a public meeting to discuss the proposal to build a Gurdwara – a place for prayer with social facilities – on land fronting Ruscote Avenue on Monday.

Councillors and community leaders heard residents feared an influx of families from the Sikh community and the loss of play space for their children.

But members of the Guru Nanak Gurdwara, who currently meet in a house in West Street, say they need a larger temple which could also be used by the community as a whole.

Cherwell District Council has agreed it could sell the land after plans to build a temple in Grimsbury failed.

At the meeting council leader George Reynolds said: “We originally intended to build the temple on the cattle market site but this met with opposition from the Muslim community which meets at the Mosque there.

“The advice we received from the racial community council was that if the Mosque and Gurdwara were built together there would be problems. I believe it is totally wrong in a multi-racial society. However, the advice from the police is that it would be extremely difficult to control.”

But Ruscote residents have rejected the new plans on the grounds there are no Sikh families living in the area.

So far they have collected 800 signatures in opposition and have formed an action group consisting of 17 volunteers.

One resident told the meeting: “You expect us to have a Sikh temple in the middle of our estate when there are no Sikh families anywhere on this estate. This is not a Sikh area. We have not got a race problem but we might have if they build it here.”

Other residents object to the selling of the land on the grounds it is used by children and could become an area for summer playschemes.

Secretary of Ruscote Community Association Janet Greensaid: “They are selling off the land and the children will have nowhere to go. The older children get moved away from the play area and they go there. That is all they have got.”

District councillor Surrinder Dhesi is a member of the Guru Nanak Gurdwara which meets at West Street. She says the group is desperately in need of a larger temple. At the moment members have to travel to attend functions and ceremonies.

Mrs Dhesi said: “All we have got is the house in West Street. We have got a wedding coming up in August and that will have to be held in Leamington.

“There are about 60 families living in Banbury and about ten more living in the villages. We need a larger building for occasions such as funerals when more people come together.

“Anybody would be able to use the Gurdwara, it is not just for the Sikh community. As long as they adhere to the rules such as removing their shoes, covering their head, not drinking or smoking, it could be used as a community facility.”

The decision to sell the land to the Guru Nanak Gurdwara was agreed by the council’s policy committee in June. Following a valuation of the land it will then be up to the Gurdwara to make an offer and go through the usual planning process.

 Published: 27.7.01 © Central Counties Newspapers Ltd