Worcester Park is set to get its first ever mosque after an Islamic community group sealed the deal to take over a derelict building.

A group of company directors, collectively called Worcester Park Islamic Community Centre, has bought a vacant building in Green Lane, which they purchased for £250,000 in November 2009.

To become a community centre, it will need to submit a ‘change of use’ planning application to Sutton Council so the building can be legally used for community facilities instead of a business premises.

Azeem Dosani, an accountant who lives in Edenfield Gardens, Worcester Park, is behind the scheme with fellow director Altaf Haroon.

On their website, wpicc.org, the group claimed it needed to raise £325,000 from donors to buy and refurbish the site.

It said: “We are strongly appealing to all Muslims locally and internationally to donate generously towards building the House of Allah.

“Spending in the cause of Allah will never decrease your wealth; on the contrary it will definitely increase your reward in the Hereafter.

“Currently the nearsest Masajids [mosques] are up to three miles away. The location of the site is therefore ideal, and enables us to serve a wide area in Surrey.”