500 signatures reached
To: Waltham Forest Council and The Secretary of State for the Communities and Local Government
Allow Forest Road Temple to Keep Their Festival Chariot!
Please don't require Forest Road Temple to remove their religious festival chariot from where it has been happily housed for nearly ten years! This is an important artifact for the Tamil community and neighbours have already written to say that they are happy with its current location. [Photo: Wendy J. Smith]
Why is this important?
This chariot is an essential piece of Kali Amman Temple's annual celebrations. Kali Amman Temple is the only temple dedicated to Kali in the United Kingdom and a very important part of the Tamil community in the UK. The ability to hold traditional celebrations is deeply important for the Tamil community and this particular artifact means a great deal to everyone involved.
Though the six-metre-tall chariot has been (quite visibly) housed in the same back garden for nearly a decade, this year the council served a planning enforcement notice to have it removed. Technically the chariot is slightly taller than the house whose garden it occupies, but it is not taller than the next-door neighbour's house. More importantly, neighbours have already written to say that they don't mind having this beautiful religious artifact where it is. Why is the council demanding changes now, when the chariot has been in the same location for nearly a decade?
The chariot is made of wood from Sri Lanka and needs to remain in its current location so that a carpenter with the appropriate skills can maintain it. Properly maintained, it can last for generations! The chariot procession is designed to make temple functions available to everyone, including those who might be unable to leave their houses or who might not feel confident coming to temple. It is a festival specifically designed to include EVERYONE, and allows local residents to experience a bit of Sri Lankan culture and connect with their Hindu neighbours.
Council paperwork seems to indicate that the chariot is being viewed as an industrial item, when in fact it is a religious one! As Waltham Forest celebrates its year as the first ever London Borough of Culture, many are wondering why such a deeply treasured cultural artifact, representing peace and hope to the community, suddenly cannot be accommodated?
Don't rob the Tamil community of this precious religious artifact!
(Read more from the Guardian here: https://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/18015285.hindu-temple-chariot-needs-new-home-following-council-notice/)
