CANTERBURY, England (RNS) The country’s first women-only mosque will open in Bradford, a 19th-century industrial boomtown and one of the most heavily Muslim-populated cities in the U.K., the Muslim Women’s Council announced. The plan seeks to provide women with a platform where they can play a larger role in the religious life of their community, a role that would include women leading prayers on Fridays and the introduction of female imams. “Details will be announced within the next few days,” said Bana Gora, chief executive of the Bradford-based Muslim Women’s Council. Earlier, she told a Bradford paper, the Telegraph & Argus, that the services offered by mosques were not always adequate for women. “Rather than complain, we decided to do something about it,” she said. There are almost 2.8 million Muslims in the U.K., representing 4.4 percent of the population. The announcement of the Bradford Mosque Project marks the culmination of a yearlong effort to find a suitable facility from among the city’s existing mosques.