<div>SIKHS in Oxford could soon have a new place to pray after being evicted from a temple at a Marston house.
Since 2006, members of the Sikh community had been using 69 Cherwell Drive to hold weekly prayer meetings.
But in May, after repeated warnings by Oxford City Council to cease the unauthorised use of the building as a place of worship, the group was finally ordered to stop using it with immediate effect.
It followed concerns from neighbours about chanting and car parking issues.
Now, Sikhs who formed a breakaway group in 2010, think they may have found a solution to their problem, and a place for the whole community to use.
The Guru Manyo Granth Sikh Centre (GMGSC) group, which set itself up as a charity in the early part of last year, is waiting for planning permission on a patch of land at Bunkers Hill, near Kidlington. Member Ranjit Ryatt, of Minster Lovell, said if permission to change the former clubhouse to a place of worship was given the go-ahead by Cherwell District Council, the group would move immediately and look to build a new centre within the next 18 months.
He said:
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Since 2006, members of the Sikh community had been using 69 Cherwell Drive to hold weekly prayer meetings.
But in May, after repeated warnings by Oxford City Council to cease the unauthorised use of the building as a place of worship, the group was finally ordered to stop using it with immediate effect.
It followed concerns from neighbours about chanting and car parking issues.
Now, Sikhs who formed a breakaway group in 2010, think they may have found a solution to their problem, and a place for the whole community to use.
The Guru Manyo Granth Sikh Centre (GMGSC) group, which set itself up as a charity in the early part of last year, is waiting for planning permission on a patch of land at Bunkers Hill, near Kidlington. Member Ranjit Ryatt, of Minster Lovell, said if permission to change the former clubhouse to a place of worship was given the go-ahead by Cherwell District Council, the group would move immediately and look to build a new centre within the next 18 months.
He said:
More...