Bharat Hindu Samaj Mandir has won the first round of a legal fight against the local authority and interested buyers/parties (a Mosque and Islamic Centre according to the Court order seen by Asian Voice), after the High Court judge has stepped into the rapidly escalating row over the future of the cherished community landmark in Peterborough.
In an urgent order issued earlier, the Administrative Court of the King’s Bench Division imposed an injunction preventing Peterborough City Council from taking any “irreversible step” toward selling the New England Complex, the building that has housed the Bharat Hindu Samaj Temple for almost 40 years.
The injunction, Justice Fordham made clear, does not settle the dispute. Instead, it presses pause. It freezes the status quo while the court considers a full judicial review challenge brought by the temple’s governing body. For thousands of worshippers who feared they were on the brink of losing their spiritual home, the decision and the win offer temporary relief.
In pointed written reasons accompanying the injunction, the judge suggested the urgency of the court’s involvement stemmed in part from the council’s own approach. “The defendant appears to have brought this situation on itself,” he wrote, noting that although the council had acknowledged correspondence raising concerns, it had failed to provide substantive clarity about the practical position of the sale.
Ordinarily, courts are cautious about granting interim relief after hearing only one side. But Justice Fordham concluded that the risk of the legal challenge being undermined by undisclosed or irreversible actions justified immediate protection. Describing the injunction as a “holding order”, he said there was a “strong prima facie case” and that the balance of convenience favoured safeguarding the property until the dispute could be properly examined. Any breach of the order could amount to contempt of court.
At stake is far more than bricks and mortar and two weeks before the injunction, congregants had spoken publicly of their heartbreak after learning their second bid to buy the site had failed. The council’s cabinet voted to sell the property to an undisclosed bidder as part of efforts to balance its strained budget, despite the temple offering £1.3 million following years of community fundraising.
The council’s decision to sell the complex goes back to a detailed cabinet report that was approved on 10 February. This report gave permission to sell the council’s ownership of the building. It was prepared after other councillors raised concerns that earlier discussions did not provide enough information.
In response, cabinet members were given extra documents. These included details of how bids were scored, how much importance was given to different factors, a full Equality Impact Assessment, and information about what would happen to current tenants. However, the report made it clear that the bidding process would not be reopened, and the final result would not be changed.
The council used a scoring system to decide between bids. Seventy per cent of the score was based on the amount of money offered and whether the buyer could complete the deal successfully. Thirty per cent was based on social value and community benefit. Officials said the higher focus on money was due to financial risks, such as making sure the funds were secure, avoiding delays, and reducing the chance of the sale falling through, not because they preferred money over community value.
Despite this, equality concerns have been one of the most debated parts of the decision. The Equality Impact Assessment accepted that one of the tenants runs a faith-based facility with few similar alternatives nearby. This means moving could affect people with protected characteristics more than others. However, the report stated that equality factors were not part of the scoring process. Instead, any risks would be managed through tenant protections and arrangements after the sale. The cabinet described the remaining risks to equality and community relations as “low to medium”.
Temple supporters strongly disagree with this view, and this issue now forms a key part of the legal challenge.
The High Court has set a tight schedule. The council must submit its evidence by 3 March, and the temple must reply by 4 March. After 5 March, a judge will decide whether the temporary order stopping the sale should continue. It will examine whether the council acted lawfully and fairly.
For now, the building remains open for temple use while the case is being considered.
In the meantime, MPs, peers, community leaders and places of worship across the UK have come forward to support the drive of Bharat Hindu Samaj to save its Mandir. Bob Blackman MP had written to the leader of the Peterborough Council, raising concerns and demanding answers, but correspondence seen by Asian Voice shows that Cllr Shabina Qayyum has refused to explain anything to an MP who is non representative of the area.