Social media has been flooded with comments from people opposed to the development, many expressing anger at council's decision, while others have strongly defended the ruling.

A record 28 members of the public spoke during the highly emotional meeting on Wednesday night before  councillors voted six-four in favour of allowing the mosque to proceed.

Cr Bob Pynsent urged the Buchanan community to work with Newcastle Muslim Association, which will operate the mosque, to co-exist in the town.

He said he believed those who vocally opposed the mosque at Buchanan on religious grounds were a “fringe element” and didn’t represent the views of the broader Cessnock community.

“We were only looking at the planning impacts. There were two main issues – the intersection and the zoning,” Cr Pynsent said.

“The [council] report clearly stated the place of worship was permitted in this zone and RMS and police looked at [the intersection] and had no complaints.”

While Wednesday’s meeting passed without major incident, Cr Pynsent said council and police had worked “since the DA was lodged” on a security plan for the meeting, which included a “substantial” police presence.

One Nation Senator-elect Pauline Hanson entered the debate on Hunter radio station KOFM on Wednesday, and said Cessnock Council should listen to the wishes of the majority of people.

But Cr Pynsent said her comments were unhelpful, because council had a legal obligation to make the decision based on planning laws – a ruling on religious grounds would be quickly quashed if the Land and Environment Court got involved.

“It shows she doesn’t understand the planning system in NSW,” he said.

New federal Paterson MP Meryl Swanson, who lives on Buchanan Road, said she felt the concerns of residents had been "disregarded to a certain extent".

"The local residents' objections were based on rural amenity and road safety," she said.

"It's not the right development for a rural location. With a big building and a big carpark, it completely changes the rural setting."

Ms Swanson said that as federal member she had no jurisdiction or influence over the council, but as a resident she cared about people’s fears and concerns.

She said she wanted Cessnock to be an inclusive local government area.

"It is important for the Muslim community to have somewhere to worship, but it needs to be in a spot where the infrastructure can cope with it, and I'm just not sure Buchanan Road can," she said.

"Buchanan Road was always the back road, but now it's increasingly busy, and this is only going to put more pressure on it."

A Buchanan Rural Residents Group spokeswoman, who asked to remain anonymous, said on Thursday the group was very disappointed with the outcome, but it was “back to business as usual”.

“Our concerns were never about who the applicant was; it was about numbers, traffic, zoning and safety,” she said.

Liberal councillor Rod Doherty, whose ward includes Buchanan, wanted to refuse the mosque because he believed it didn’t fit with the zone objectives and was “not in the public interest” due to the hundreds of public submissions lodged against the proposal. 

He said he was disappointed with fellow Ward D councillors James Ryan (Greens) and Graham Smith (Labor) for “not listening to the concerns of the Buchanan residents”.

“Councillors are elected to support good planning decisions and to represent their constituents,” he said.

Maitland Mercury