Campaigners demand to know how sale of Hindu centre of worship is in interest of Peterborough people

The call comes from the Bharat Hindu Samaj, which is the principal user of the New England Complex in Lincoln Road, Millfield, and which has been earmarked for sale by Peterborough City Council.

Dinesh Odedra, a spokesperson for the Bharat Hindu Samaj, said: “The council must explain how this process served fairness, equality and the long term public interest of Peterborough.”

His demand comes after members of the council’s ruling cabinet agreed last month to sell the building, which has been used as a Hindu centre of worship for 40 years, to a separate organisation.

This was despite the fact that Bharat Hindu Samaj had submitted a £1.3 million bid to buy the centre, which the sale details state has a value of £1.4 million.

But that decision has been called-in for review by three councillors, Councillor Roger Antunes, Cllr Ann Shaheed and Cllr Asif Shaheed, and the matter will be reconsidered at an extraordinary meeting of the Sustainable Future City Council Scrutiny Committee on January 12.

The building on Rock Road has been home to the Bharat Hindu Samaj for four decades and serves an estimated 13,500 Hindus from across Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Lincolnshire.

Now Mr Odedra, who says members of the community will be present at the meeting, said: “If any community faced the loss of its only community centre without a suitable alternative and no consultation with those affected, such an outcome would be rightly questioned.”

He said there were a number of issues the committee should consider and these included the closeness of the bid to the value of the building and the fact that £650,000 of annual social value had been delivered to the public purse by the centre and which represented about £13 million over 20 years.

He said the centre was also the only Hindu community centre for 13,500 members and that no suitable replacement had been identified to meet future needs.

He said: “This is marginalising the only Hindu community in Peterborough.”

Councillor Mohammed Jamil, the Labour's finance cabinet member for Peterborough City Council, has said: “Quite simply, they didn’t submit a high enough bid.

"The successful bid is higher and indeed the valuation for the property was £1.4 million and this was contained in the information packs sent out to prospective buyers.”

He said the council had offered to help Bharat Hindu Samaj find alternative accommodation including possible use of the city’s former dementia centre.

The move to sell the centre is part of ongoing action by the local authority to dispose of some assets to raise cash to help resolve a budget shortfall.