Neighbours on a busy main street in Sneinton have expressed concern about the future of an unfinished building site which is accumulating rubbish and being used for dumping. The site at Sneinton Dale was intended to be a religious school, prayer space and community hall.
It is unclear when the building began on the site but it appears to have stopped in recent years, with the structure becoming overgrown. The education centre was planned to be over three floors and all that remains is a structural frame and building supplies on the site and it is across from the Sneinton landmark Green's Windmill and Science Centre.
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The site was once a garage which needed to be knocked down to make way for the new building. The Masjid, Madrasah, Dawah and Community centre would have been a first for Nottingham with an online fundraising page stating that the total cost was expected to reach £2.5 million.
The fundraising page also stated the core focus of the building was to meet the needs of this and future generations in educating young Muslims about Islamic values. They also planned to open the centre to integrate with the wider community through different social activities.
Residents have become concerned about the lack of progress on the site which remains boarded up. The evidence of rubbish being strewn across the site is visible from many of their homes, including their children's bedroom windows.
Emma Jane Storey has lived at her property for 21 years and has raised four children in her home, which is at the back of the site. She can see the rubbish from her garden and bedroom windows.
"They started building here about eight years ago but it was a garage before this. There hasn't been any sign of movement on the site for about five years or longer. People are just throwing and dumping rubbish over the red fence in the alley," she said.
"I had someone knock on my door to ask if I had seen anyone dumping rubbish over there but I hadn't. It normally happens at night time and it's not a nice sight."
Emma has emailed the organisation behind the building, councillors and also the email addresses linked to the site on signs attached to the boards. However, she has had no response and has not seen anyone visit the site since last summer when she was asked if she knew who had been dumping rubbish. Nottinghamshire Live reached out to those involved, including building contractors, but received no response.
"It seems structurally safe but it's in a state and there is no knowledge of what is going on. I last heard from someone during the summer and I've reached out to the emails attached to the boards and called the phone numbers. I asked people to contact me but I got no answers and had to give up," she said.
"It looks horrendous as it's all overgrown and there is no sign of life apart from foxes and badgers. No one comes in or out of it and there are five houses behind the site as well as those facing it. There is always rubbish in the alleyway dumped all the time and it's disgusting."
Frank Sabbio currently lives on Sneinton Dale and his house has recently been sold. It faces the building site and he remembered when letters were sent around announcing the proposed works and asking if residents had objections to it. He was concerned about the impact it would have on the resident's parking spaces.
"We received a back-dated letter with their planning permission to build something but because it was back-dated, there was only one day left on mine to reply. My house is directly across from the building so I was a person of interest because it would cancel my view from the top," he said.
"I had concerns about it because of the traffic. This is the only house with a private drive and cars park there all the time. I've put a sign saying private space but most of the time people don't care."
Frank would like to see them do something with the site but says that anything is better than the garage that was there before.
Adam Hayes lives a few doors down from the building site and has been there for seven years. He would like to see something done about the site. "It hasn't really affected me but the rubbish dumping is not good. It needs to be sorted as soon as possible."
Nottingham Post contacted the Dar-Us-Salam organisation, local mosques, and the building contractors with no reply. Nottingham city councillors for Sneinton did not wish to comment.
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