Go-ahead for former shop to become Hindu temple

Permission to turn a former shop into a Hindu temple has been granted.

The application to convert a building on Beehive Lane in Great Baddow was approved by Chelmsford City Council on Tuesday.

The Hindu community used to meet at the Quaker meeting house in Rainsford Road, but that space was available to the community only at weekends.

Smita Rajesh, chair of Chelmsford Hindu Society, said: "Temple is not just a place of worship – it is a place [for] the community [to get] together."

She said the temple would help older people who might be lonely and younger people who wanted to learn about their roots.

The society raised £600,000 for the building. About £200,000 has come from donations and about £400,000 is in the form of loans from supporters of the project.

Funding for the deities was covered by the Chelmsford Hindu Society.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on Baddow Road has offered to share its car park with the temple.

Ms Rajesh said she hoped the temple would open in about a month's time.

"We are elated. We can hardly believe it," she said.

"It's only now that we have come to this space [that] we have a temple in Chelmsford."

The temple will also act as a community centre with yoga and dance classes, among other things, open to people from all faiths.

Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.