Council finance chief defends decision to sell much-used Hindu centre of worship in Peterborough
A leading councillor has defended a decision not to sell a Hindu temple and community centre to its current occupiers.
Councillor Mohammed Jamil, the Labour's finance cabinet member for Peterborough City Council, said that the Bharat Hindu Samaj, which is the principal user of the New England Complex in Millfield, had not submitted the highest bid in a tender process to buy the premises.
The centre is being sold by the local authority as part of an ongoing process to reduce its debts and balance its books through a disposal of some of its assets.
Members of the council’s ruling cabinet selected a bidder at a meeting earlier last month.
Since then three councillors – Councillor Roger Antunes, Cllr Ann Shaheed and Cllr Asif Shaheed – have ‘called in’ the decision for review at an extraordinary meeting of the Sustainable Future City Council Scrutiny Committee.
A date for the meeting has still to be decided.
A spokesperson for the Bharat Hindu Samaj said they had submitted a £1.2 million bid and were prepared to invest in a refurbishment of the centre.
But Cllr Jamil 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: “We set up a property board which considered the bids and then made a recommendation to the cabinet.
Cllr Jamil: “I would not be doing my job properly if we did not secure the best value for the council.”
He said: “I totally understand where the centre is coming from.
"And we have offered to help them find alternative accommodation – and one building, the former dementia centre, is close by.”
The building on Rock Road has been home to the Bharat Hindu Samaj for 40 years and serves an estimated 13,500 Hindus from across Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Lincolnshire.
Dinesh Odedra, a spokesperson for the centre, told the Peterborough Telegraph: “We want to know why an offer that was made by the centre of £1.2 million was not acceptable to the council?
"We are very concerned that the buyers the council is looking at will not maintain the current uses of the centre.”
As well as being an important place of worship, the temple hosts a wide range of community events and makes large charitable donations.