I'd like to put some myths and doubts to rest.

All of the mosques in Northampton and elsewhere in the country are paid for, bought and modified with money from the very people that worship in them.

Mosques do not access or seek public funding.

Those of us that have been looking into the idea of a purpose-built mosque in the town have met MPs, councillors and officers and we have sought nothing but their co-operation to help us identify some land in the town so that we could work together to create a landmark that will be in keeping with architectural landscape of the town.

There is no question of wanting any "gifts" or access to the public purse.

Sadly much of the criticism since yesterday has been about Muslims wanting taxpayers to fund their place of worship.

Things couldn't be further from the truth.

The proposals by the Northampton Central Mosques Trust is looking to create a building that will be open and accommodating of all people while helping to meet the needs of the Muslims.

Flexible spaces, a library, mini-conference facilities are some of the ideas that have been incorporated within the initial design.

One of the key considerations given to the project is how "green" and environmentally-friendly it should be, space for parking and future expansion as well as the surrounding area and what impact it will have on the existing local community.

This isn't simply about building a mosque anywhere because we can buy the land or a disused building.

Just like the current mosques in the town, particular attention is paid to the relationship with the neighbours.

All of these plans are a pipe dream and have been for some time.

At the very least, our plans will cost in excess of £2 million, money the community just does not have at the moment.

I would like to make reference to Kingsthorpe Meadow.

From a land prospective, I share the common view that it's unsuitable for development and given the energy the local people have invested in wishing to safeguard it in its current form, I see no reason why anything should change.

Kingsthorpe is not a location we have even considered.

The reasons against the area are numerous including its geographic location.

Secondly, the fact that the whole idea goes against the express wishes of the local people to preserve it will not be in keeping with the peaceful and accommodating approach of our project.

Thirdly and more critically, this land is not fit for development.

Sadly, the story has brought Muslims and the Muslim communities in sharp focus and some people are trying to destabilise the good relations we enjoy with people in the town.

I am powerless to stop anyone making a statement that affects 10,000-plus Muslims just as the rest of the population is powerless to stop a handful of ignorant bigots from stirring up tension.

For as long as the vast majority of us maintain a sense of perspective, there is no reason why isolated comments should divide us.

Yousuf Miah,
Former borough councillor, on behalf of the Northampton Central Mosque Trust.

Land swap plan?
One of our elected councillors, who should have the interests of the town at heart, out-bids the NN2 residents to buy the land at Kingsthorpe Meadow for an unknown businessman.

It is widely known that the land is not suitable for building on or does Councillor Choudary know something the residents of Kingsthorpe don't?

Councillor Choudary then tells us he would like to see a £4 million mosque built in the town for the 14,500 Muslims. The question is, is the intention to ask the council for a building site more suitable for a mosque so his unknown businessman can build the mosque in exchange for Kingsthorpe Meadow? I wonder?
J Folwell,
St Alban's Road, Northampton.

Still signs of the old SMJ line
Anna Brosnan's article on the old SMJ line certainly bought back memories for me as a train spotter in the 1950s.

Spotters at Blisworth used to congregate in a field between two bridges and I well remember seeing SMJ trains winding their way between the trees.

Of course the spotters were more interested in the main line expresses as the SMJ locos were usually mundane six coupled freight locos, but I loved the way they made their way through the over-hanging branches.

Actually just outside Towcester are still to be seen the remains of a bridge and the embankment.

I suggest enthusiasts photograph this asap before it finally collapses.

The class 8F loco at Roade appears to be on an engineer's train on the slow line to Northampton.

I was told the line had a local nickname, the Slow, Middling and Jolting!
Paul Wilkins,
Wycliffe Road, Northampton.

It all went wrong very quickly
In his recent column, John Dickie wonders where New Labour went wrong (Chron, September 17)
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John recalls nostalgically the heady days of May 1997 and the general sense of expectation of better days ahead that came with New Labour's election which ended 18 years of Tory party rule.

While John must be congratulated for finally realising that New Labour has indeed gone wrong, one wonders how he missed all the early signs that Blair, Brown and the late Robin Cook would all betray the promises they made once in government.

To many of us, the immediate decision of then Chancellor Gordon Brown to grant full control of monetary policy to the Bank of England and to stick to Tory spending plans did not augur well.

Likewise, some of us wondered how the immediate cuts in single parent benefit and the leaked plans for cuts in disability benefit initiated by New Labour squared with Brown's promise to cut child poverty and narrow the gap between rich and poor.

Blair's oft-cited commitment to education became the quintessence of New Labour's catch-all election-winning strategy.

Yet after a year in office David Blunkett was forced to admit to a Commons Select Committee in July 1998 that education spending as a proportion of GDP had decreased from 4.9 per cent under the Tories to 4.7 per cent under Labour.

As for Robin Cook's "ethical" foreign policy, this went up in a puff of smoke as soon as he became foreign secretary and stepped up arms sales to Columbia, Turkey and Israel, to name but three countries engaged in campaigns of state terror against their own people, giving lie to the deceit that lay behind all the high-minded rhetoric.

Had John Dickie not been so naive as to have accepted at face value New Labour's rhetoric on its moral purpose, then he would not now be telling us that these leaders actually meant what they said before they were elected.

Their record in office from Day One suggests something quite different.
Guy Nicholls,
Elmhurst Court, Spinney Hill, Northampton.