Hindu Temple Challenges Peterborough Council Over Site Sale to Mosque

TOI Correspondent from London: Dozens of Hindus from Peterborough travelled to London for a landmark high court hearing on Wednesday in which a Hindu temple in Peterborough is bringing a judicial review challenging the city council over its decision to sell the site the temple is located on to a local mosque. A court overflow room had to be set up to accommodate the Hindus. In 1986 Peterborough city council had granted Bharat Hindu Samaj (BHS) a lease of unit 6 of the New England Complex, Rock Road, Peterborough for 25 years. From around 2017 the council has been engaged in negotiations with BHS to explore the possibility of a transfer of site to BHS to enable its continued use as a Hindu temple with associated community uses. It hosts school groups, vegetarian lunch clubs, language activities and cultural activities. On April 6, 2025, BHS made a £1. 3m offer (minus social value of services it offers at £504,000 as calculated by the council) to buy the site it had been a tenant on for 40 years. On May 23, 2025, the United Kingdom Islamic Mission (UKIM), an interested party in the court case, which has a mosque in Peterborough, submitted an offer to purchase the property for approximately £1.3-£1. 4m. UKIM also offered “to beat any existing cash offer by up to 5%”. UKIM provided the council with a document outlining its proposal to redevelop the entire site by constructing a new building to be known as “The Khadijah Centre", making clear that the only religious facilities proposed were for the Muslim community and it was no part of the UKIM’s intention to allow the existing Hindu temple to remain, the court was told. On Sept 9, 2025, the council decided to progress the disposal of the property by inviting bids with a deadline of Oct 13, 2025. On Feb 10, 2026, the council cabinet announced it would sell the site to UKIM. In Wednesday’s hearing Toby Fisher, representing the BHS, said he was calling for the council decision to be quashed as it was not “lawful”. Fisher said: “We are not arguing that a lawful process would have resulted in the BHS getting it, but as a 40-year sitting tenant and one of the bidders representing more than 14,000 Hindus in the East of England, the claimant was denied a lawful process and lawful decision, so we seek as a remedy a quashing order. We say it was obvious and should have been made clear to the cabinet that the very likely result of the Feb decision was that the claimant would be required to vacate the property with no adequate alternative premises available, and that would therefore impact those with protected characteristic of Hindu religion and their ability to practise their religion. ” He says officers knew the successful bidder could get vacant possession and planned to redevelop the premises, but did not inform the cabinet who made the decision.