MAJOR changes planned for West Ealing will include a £6million mosque.

Community group West Ealing Neighbours has highlighted several schemes currently in the works for the area, based either on or just off the Uxbridge Road,

In January this year, Ealing Council’s planning committee gave permission for West London Islamic Centre, which is based in West Ealing, to build the multi-storey facility on the corner of Brownlow Road and Singapore Road.

The website for WLIC says that the facility will cost about £6m to build and money for the project is coming from a variety of sources, including fundraising. So far more than £1m has been raised for the project.

A mission statement for the West London Islamic Centre reads: “Its institutional purpose and function will be to empower and enable Muslims to achieve their true and full potential in their spiritual, educational, physical, social-economic and cultural aspirations, while inspiring them to play a participatory role in the development of the wider community.”

Last month, supermarket giant Morrison's opened a new mini-store in West Ealing at the site of the Lovelace House.

David Highton, chairman of West Ealing Neighbours said: “The West Ealing high street is on the point of change. Proposals for a 60-bedroom hotel are under way, and we are just beginning to see the impact of the Crossrail, things are going to change a lot over the next five or six years.

“There is the Green Man Lane Estate development which in a few years will see the population increase from 800 to 2,000, and the Sherwood Close Estate is also being redeveloped for another slight population increase.

“And there is more change to come. The high street, I think has hit the bottom now, and we will be seeing it come back up and improve over the next five years.

“It is important to think about events and activities that can take place on the high street other than traditional retail outlets.

“The West London Mental Health Trust recently took a lease out on a shop that has been empty for years, and have set up a recovery hub for helping people with mental health problems come back into the community.”