UK: 90 ft steel tower built next to mosque: Don't worry it only 'resembles a minaret'

Would the last Englishman to leave Britain please turn out the lights?

Courtesy of the East London Advertiser.

Work begins this week on erecting a giant 90ft ‘iconic’ steel tower next to a mosque in the middle of the Brick Lane conservation area in London’s East End.

<--- Looks more like an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile to me.

The structure which will resemble the shape of a minaret is being erected inches from the wall of the Jamme Masjid mosque, a converted former synagogue founded originally as an 18th century Huguenot church, after planning permission was given by Tower Hamlets council.

Council Leader Lutfur Rahman visited the site last week when the base was completed, where he met Muslim community leaders. The steel structure will dominate the skyline of the Georgian conservation area around Spitalfields, the historic Huguenot weaving district, and is being billed by the Town Hall as “a new iconic East End landmark.”

The seven sections of the tower are being fitted together and erected during the week.

About Bishop's Square? It's pretty ghastly if you ask me. And the project represents nothing more than the city's shakedown of a developer for some jizya. Exhibit A? The "iconic 90 ft steel tower resembling a minaret".

The local authority also intends to erect new arches along Brick Lane, all paid for by £8.6 million ‘planning gain’ cash from the nearby Bishops Square development on the ‘City Fringe’ near Liverpool Street station.

“It’s important developers give something back to the community,” said Cllr Rahman. “The council planning team makes sure their contributions offset the disruption and additional pressures their developments place on our services.”

The cash from Bishops Square, one of the largest single payments from a developer ever received by a local authority, is also paying for open spaces on the nearby Chicksand and Holland housing estates and a new building for Osmani Youth Centre.

Update:

Here's a better view of how the minaret "iconic 90 ft steel tower" will look. Oh, and my bad. I neglected to mention the project's installation of a series of arches - designed to resemble a hijab.

From the Sunday Express:

The odd looking minaret has just been put up outside London’s most famous mosque, a building whose appearance until now has remained unchanged during previous spells as a Huguenot church, a Methodist chapel and as a Jewish synagogue.

The structure will be joined soon at either end of the street by two arches that have been designed to look like Muslim hijabs.