A storm of anguish and defiance is sweeping across Britain’s Hindu community as worshippers, leaders, and organisations unite in a desperate fight to save the Bharat Hindu Samaj (BHS) Temple, the only Hindu temple in Peterborough, now staring at the very real prospect of closure after Peterborough City Council agreed to sell the site it has called home for nearly four decades.
For almost 40 years, the temple has stood in the city’s New England Complex not just as a building, but as a lifeline, a sacred space woven into the identity of nearly 18,500 worshippers across Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, and parts of Lincolnshire. Generations have prayed there, celebrated there, mourned there. Now, many fear they could soon lose it forever.
The council, which owns the building, insists the sale is necessary to pay off mounting debts and secure value for taxpayers. But temple representatives say their own efforts to save their spiritual home have been met with shifting goalposts and broken expectations. They say they offered £1.3 million to buy the complex and spent 14 years in negotiations; only for conditions to repeatedly change, and for a legally binding contract to never materialise.
In a dramatic intervention, a Scrutiny Committee had concluded that councillors were not given enough information when deciding to sell the temple site. The Committee then called for the decision to be sent back to the Cabinet for reconsideration. It also urged that no sale should proceed until the temple either secures a new home or retains its tenancy within six months.
However, the Peterborough City Council Cabinet still decided to uphold the disposal of the New England Complex. This decision will result in the loss of the Mandir (temple) and community centre that has served Peterborough and the surrounding region for more than 40 years, and which remains the only Hindu temple within a 35–40-mile radius, relied upon by nearly 18,500 residents across Peterborough, Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, and neighbouring areas.
Community’s feelings and the social value of the temple
Worshippers have said they are “heartbroken” at the prospect of losing their spiritual home after their second attempt to buy the site was unsuccessful.
Independent councillor Roger Antunes, who had pushed for the decision to be scrutinised, did not hide his frustration. He said terms had been agreed with the Hindu community and were due to be approved last summer.
“They had been given assurances that their negotiated bid would be approved,” he said.
“It wasn’t. It was then rescinded, and an open-market best offer provided. That is unacceptable; the negotiated process should have been followed.”
He added the community had been given just one month “to put a bid together from a standing start”.
Antunes pointed to what many see as a stark and painful imbalance.
“One of the key concerns here is that in Peterborough, within a 35-mile radius of this facility, there are circa 390 churches, circa 25-30 mosques or Muslim community centres. There is only one Hindu consecrated temple and community centre. Not once has that been identified within the evaluation.”
About the decision, when a supporter asked whether the temple’s immense social value had been factored into the decision, the response offered little comfort. Labour cabinet member for finance Mohammed Jamil said that “social value was taken into account and officers from our property board came up with the decision that they did in the manner that they did.”
Yet if social value truly sat at the heart of the process, the conclusion raises troubling and deeply uncomfortable questions. How does a decision that could uproot the only Hindu temple serving three entire counties emerge from a framework that claims to recognise community impact? How do the numbers, not just financial, but human, fail to tip the balance?
If one of the 390 churches and 25 to 30 mosques or Muslim community centres were to close, those communities, though undoubtedly affected, would still have somewhere to turn. Their elderly would not be left without familiar spaces. Their children would not be cut off from their cultural grounding. Their sense of belonging would not be erased overnight.
But for Hindus across Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, and Lincolnshire, this temple is not one of many. It is the only one. Its loss would not simply mean relocating prayers. It would mean dismantling a support system built over generations. It would mean vulnerable elders losing a lifeline against loneliness. It would mean young people losing a living connection to their heritage. It would mean a community facing the very real risk of cultural isolation.
If social value was measured, many are now left wondering: what weight was it truly given?
Despite the appeals, the cabinet authorised the disposal of the complex, subject to transitional provisions. The preferred bidder has not been publicly named.
In a moment that captured the depth of the community’s heartbreak, supporters of Bharat Hindu Samaj rose together and walked out of the council’s Sand Martin House headquarters en masse, a silent protest heavy with grief and disbelief.
Afterwards, Jamil acknowledged their pain. “I fully understand their disappointment,” he said. “Let’s turn this disappointment into something where we can work together. The council has offered its services to working with the community to find another building. We will work with them and I’m sure we will be able to accommodate them.”
Ekta Patel, the temple’s vice-president, said the community had “left no stone unturned and knocked on all doors” in a determined effort to secure the site, but were left feeling “disgruntled” by the outcome.
Patel said the decision came as a shock given the scale of public support. “It’s a very emotional time for us. There are no words to describe how we truly feel,” she said. “Many of our congregation are pensioners who have dedicated their lives to keeping this place running. It is very difficult for them to lose it.”
Trustee Gauri Chaudhary said the sale represented more than a property transaction. “It is a focal point of cultural and spiritual life created entirely through community effort,” she said, adding that supporters across the country had rallied behind the temple.
In a statement, the temple committee warned the impact would be “immediate and significant”, particularly for elderly members who risk losing a “crucial lifeline”.
Far more important than
just bricks and mortar
The issue is about far more than bricks and mortar. Bharat Hindu Samaj is not only a place of worship, it is a sanctuary, a refuge, and a beating heart of community life.
Through food distribution, elderly care, youth engagement, interfaith initiatives, and cultural programmes, it binds people together across generations and backgrounds. Its work strengthens social cohesion and relieves pressure on public services, with independent estimates showing its activities save between £3.5 million and £4 million in public service costs every five years, a contribution that far outweighs the site’s market value.
Now, as the threat of sale looms, the question hanging over Peterborough is stark and painful: Will a temple that has stood for nearly 40 years and carried the hopes, faith, and identity of thousands be allowed to disappear?
JOIN US. Add your voice to the community’s petition to support this important campaign
in safeguarding this sacred institution. Together, we can make a meaningful difference. If you are in support of the efforts to prevent the temple’s unfortunate closure and are willing to stand with those fighting to protect it, please share your short message (no more than 100 words) with your full name, phone number, and email address to [email protected] by 2 March 2026.