Campaigners are celebrating after winning a High Court battle to stop Southall Town Hall being rented out to a Hindu temple next door for 250 years. At the Royal Courts of Justice last Friday (July 20), Judge Martin McKenna found Ealing Council had failed to consider satisfactorily anything other than the amount of money - £2 million - it would be able to get for leasing the building to the Vishwa Hindu Temple on Lady Margaret Road.
Janpal Basran, chairman of Southall Community Alliance which is a leading player in the Save Southall Town Hall campaign, said after the decision was announced: "The campaign is absolutely delighted with this decision. The consequences of this decision for the community are massive. We hope it will set a precedent around the country that when local authorities are selling off assets they have to consider more than just money."
Reading out his judgement Mr McKenna said there was no evidence that Ealing Council's cabinet was aware of wider factors when making the decision such as the historic, social and economic impact of leasing the building. He didn't make a ruling on the second matter before the court - whether issues of equality had been considered - but told the court if he had done so, he would have found the council had failed to show due regard to its equality duties, and that there was no consideration of the impact the decision would have had on the community.
Mr McKenna said there appeared to be no consideration of the impact of selling the hall to a single faith group and said the attempt to show that alternative office spaces were available for businesses currently using the town hall was a "bland assertion" that other places were available.
The Grade II listed hall is currently in use as an enterprise centre and is occupied by charities including Southall Community Alliance, which supports local business, and Helplink, which provides free English lessons, computer classes and health support. But the council says it has made a loss on running the building every year since 2010. The council now has 21 days to appeal the decision.
