Sydney  - Cheers greeted a decision Tuesday by a local Sydney council to reject a proposal to build an Islamic school for 1,200 pupils.

Mayor Chris Patterson said the decision by the Camden Council was determined by concern over traffic and loss of agricultural land, but not on religious considerations.

"It's a site issue, clearly a site issue," he told Australian news agency AAP said. "We said all along religious issues, nationalistic issues, will not be entered into."

The council meeting drew 200 people. Earlier this year, a crowd of 1,000 held a noisy protest against the plan.

The Camden authorities received 3,500 complaints about the project, saying it would bring "culture shock" to a mostly white Anglo-Saxon suburb on the outskirts of the city.

There are Islamic schools in all Australia's big cities and, like schools run by other religious dominations, they receive government funding.

New South Wales state member of parliament Charlie Lynn had led the lobby against the school. He said earlier this year that only 100 Muslim families lived in Camden and called the proposal "an attempt by social engineers to inflict culture shock, if you like, on Camden."

In November two pig's heads were rammed on metal stakes with an Australian flag draped between them at the site.

There are around 350,000 Muslims in Australia, most of whom are of Middle Eastern extraction and live in Sydney. (dpa)