Seville grants license for Polígono Sur mosque, overriding Vox objections

The approval

The Urbanism Commission of Seville City Council granted a building permit on Tuesday, 28 July, for an Islamic cultural centre and mosque on a private plot in the Polígono Sur neighbourhood. The city's delegate for urbanism, Juan de la Rosa, said the project by the private Fundación Mezquita de Sevilla meets all current planning regulations and that refusing it would amount to breaking the law.

The planned complex, designed by architect Guillermo Vázquez Consuegra, will occupy a site of almost 3,000 square metres on Victoria Domínguez Cerrato street, next to Parque Celestino Mutis. More than 6,000 square metres of built space will include roughly 1,000 square metres for the mosque and the remainder for parking, exhibition halls, offices, a café and courtyards.

We are not going to place ideological or partisan interests above a perfectly regulated licence under any circumstances.

Two decades in waiting

The Islamic community in Seville has been trying to build a purpose-built mosque for more than twenty years, according to the foundation. Currently the city houses more than ten venues adapted for Muslim worship but none erected specifically for that purpose. The promoter describes itself as a cultural, not religious, entity run by first- and second-generation Spanish Muslims.

A previous attempt to place the project on the agenda on 10 July was withdrawn as a gesture of what the council called "institutional loyalty," despite Vox's challenge at that time consisting of "three pages with few explanations," De la Rosa said.

Vox threatens to pull support

Vox, which holds three seats on the city council and provides external backing to the minority PP administration of mayor José Luis Sanz, has fiercely opposed the licence. The party's municipal spokesman, Gonzalo García de Polavieja, said on Monday that residents and shopkeepers in La Oliva had expressed "concern" about a project that "could alter coexistence and the identity of Polígono Sur and its whole sphere of influence."

We have heard first-hand from traders and neighbours their worry about a project that can alter coexistence and the identity of Polígono Sur and its entire area of influence.

Vox organised a Monday evening protest in the neighbourhood which, according to ABC, drew the participation of ultra groups. The party also launched an online petition and repeated its threat to withdraw support from the minority government if the licence was granted.

Legal fight looms

Vox insists the scheme is a religious centre, not a cultural one, and that its approval breaches the city's general urban plan. The party announced it will challenge the decision in court.

The main use is a religious centre and the promoter claimed the use is social. We are being asked to believe it is a cultural and social centre, and that is what the mayor is relying on. Let the judges say whether it is a mosque or an Islamic centre.

The foundation has pushed back, stressing that permits are awarded on technical, not ideological, grounds. It had earlier requested a meeting with Manuel Gavira, the Vox leader in Andalusia and vice-president of the regional government, to present the project.

The council's own legal and technical reports found the use compatible with the plot's zoning and that no additional public participation procedure was required, contrary to Vox's demands. De la Rosa said Vox had not submitted any report contradicting that conclusion.