Ilford Federation Synagogue is celebrating Redbridge Council planning approval for converting the Dennis Centre in Beehive Lane into its new home.

The consent precludes changes to the exterior of the building but will allow the ground floor to be split to allow the separation of male and female worshippers.The first floor will house a functions hall and the top level will be for residential use.

Ilford Federation chair Leon Newmark said: ‘’There will be room on the ground floor for 180 people and we will be able to accommodate around 400 people on both floors."

The cost of purchasing the Dennis Centre from Jewish Care would be funded from the sale of the current synagogue in Coventry Road, a mile away, so membership fees would not be increased.

With the shift of the Jewish population away from the Coventry Road area, many of Ilford Federation’s 450 families have found it difficult to attend services.

The community had discussed sharing the local United synagogue’s premises.

But the talks stalled for the second time last year.

The Dennis Centre was the home of Ilford Synagogue before the opening of its purpose-built premises 200 yards away in the early 1950s.

Services offered by the centre, catering for people with dementia, have been relocated to Jewish Care’s Vi and John Rubens House in nearby Clarence Avenue.