'Find the Shital community space to build a temple in Milton Keynes' urge residents

The Citizen described earlier how the group of Shirdi Sai Baba devotees was refused planning permission to build their dream temple on Tattenhoe estate.

But the congregation members refused to be daunted and have thrown themselves into huge amounts of voluntary work instead, helping to feed hungry people all over MK. See Citizen story here.

Now, residents on the estate that objected to the temple plan have applauded their work and said they will be petitioning the council to find them another, more suitable, site.

A spokesperson for the residents said: "We have said right from the outset that we support the need for a temple for the local Shital community in MK. We recognise and applaud the work that Shital do for the Milton Keynes community."

She added: "Tattenhoe residents will be mounting a petition calling for the Council and MPs to find a more suitable site for a temple and community hall for the Shital community, which could accommodate the number of devotees and visitors envisaged, with plenty of parking spaces and good access.

"MK is renowned for being a diverse, multi cultural city and home to the practising of many religions. And Tattenhoe is home to many people from all walks of like, culture and religions."

But residents say the temple plan for their estate was not just to serve the local community and they were worried about parking and traffic chaos that could be caused.

"If you look at the size of the planned temple and community hall it is clear that it is designed to take a large numbers of visitors, including hosting festivals and weddings and serving a much wider area than just MK," said the spokesman.

""A more central location, well connected with transport links and plenty of parking spaces would make more sense."

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