UK Hindu temple fights for survival after complex sold to Islamic group for mosque
Founded by Indian families fleeing to the UK from Uganda, the city of Peterborough's only Hindu temple is battling to save its home after the Labour-led city council sold the complex housing it to an Islamic group planning to build a mosque. The dispute is now before the UK High Court.
A 40-year-old Hindu temple in the city of Peterborough in the UK, founded by Indian refugees expelled from Uganda, is fighting for survival after the complex housing it was sold to an Islamic group planning to build a mosque on the site.
The Bharat Hindu Samaj (BHS) temple has run from the New England Complex since 1986. The temple was founded by families expelled from Uganda by dictator Idi Amin in 1972.
That complex, however, has since then been sold to the Khadijah Mosque, part of the United Kingdom Islamic Mission, by the Labour Party-led Peterborough City Council as part of its plans to repay it's roughly 500 million pound debt, reported the UK-based newspaper, The Telegraph. The newspaper also reported that the sale went ahead despite temple trustees offering a sum of 1.3 million pounds, an offer which they attest was ignored for months.
"Peterborough City Council told us in March 2025 that we could buy the property, and we put an offer in place for 1.3 million pounds. We did not get any response from them until September 2025. All we came to know was that it was going to the best and final offer stage, and now we had to put in a bid," trustee Gauri Chaudhary told India Today TV.
According to a report in The Telegraph, the Khadiajah Mosque purchased the complex in order to build what it described as a "unity centre" prayer spaces, classrooms, and sports and recreation activities.
Despite the decision being referred back to the council’s cabinet amid an outcry, it was upheld at a meeting in February this year. In response, the trustees secured an injunction preventing the local authority from selling the site and swiftly raised 86,000 pounds via a GoFundMe campaign with the help of donations from across the world, reported The Telegraph.
The UK High Court is now hearing the case, with petitioners telling the Court that the city council's decision to sell the site of the "principal place of worship for Hindus" in the East of England to an Islamic organisation was unlawful and should be quashed.
WHY DID THE PETERBOROUGH CITY COUNCIL SELL THE BHS TEMPLE TO AN ISLAMIC GROUP?
Founded by families expelled from Uganda by dictator Idi Amin in 1972, the Bharat Hindu Samaj (BHS) temple in Peterborough is the only Hindu temple within a 35-mile radius of the city. It serves nearly 14,000 Hindus across Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Lincolnshire. Its adjoining community centre hosts a range of activities, including badminton and table tennis clubs, yoga classes, Gujarati and Hindi lessons, health programmes, and a lunch club for senior citizens.
However, in 2025, Peterborough City Council, led by Labour Party leader Shabina Qayyum, decided to sell the former school building at the New England Complex as part of efforts to reduce its nearly 500 million pound debt burden.
BHS Temple trustees, who had been negotiating with the council for years to purchase the complex, submitted an offer of 1.3 million pounds. However, they said they were later informed that the property had been placed on the open market and that a bidder had already been selected — the Khadijah Mosque, part of the United Kingdom Islamic Mission (UKIM), a UK-registered charity.
The decision left BHS trustees disappointed, as they had hoped to secure the complex to expand the temple’s community activities. Speaking to India Today TV, trustee Gauri Chaudhary said the council did not respond to their offer for several months.
"Peterborough City Council told us in March 2025 that we could buy the property, and we put an offer in place for 1.3 million pounds. We did not get any response from them until September 2025. All we came to know was that it was going to the best and final offer stage, and now we had to put in a bid," she said.
The Khadijah Mosque is among at least nine mosques in Peterborough, a city with a population of around 225,000. According to the 2021 UK census, Muslims make up 12.2% of the city’s population, up from 9.4% a decade earlier, while Hindus account for 1.8%, compared with 1.5% in 2011.
According to a report in The Telegraph, The Khadijah Mosque stated it has outgrown its home of nearly 40 years and wanted to go ahead with the purchase of the New England Complex to fulfil its plans for a new "unity centre" – an "inclusive" facility designed to house prayer spaces, classrooms, and sports and recreation activities.
TEMPLE TRUSTEES MANAGED TO HALT SALE, APPROACH HIGH COURT
Following Peterborough City Council selling the complex housing the Bharat Hindu Samaj, its trustees secured an injunction preventing the local authority from selling the site and swiftly raised 86,000 pounds via a GoFundMe campaign, reported The Telegraph.
At a High Court hearing on June 11, Toby Fisher, representing Bharat Hindu Samaj, argued that the case was not a challenge to the United Kingdom Islamic Mission (UKIM) but to the lawfulness of Peterborough City Council's decision-making process, the BBC reported.
Fisher told the court the temple had been negotiating to buy the New England Complex since 2017. However, after UKIM submitted a bid in 2024, the council invited "best and final offers" before approving the sale to the Islamic organisation in February. Court submissions said UKIM had pledged to outbid any cash offer by up to 5%.
Fisher argued the council's decision-making process was legally flawed, alleging councillors had "blindly" accepted officers' recommendations and failed to properly consider, as required under the Equality Act 2010, the impact of closing the region's only Hindu temple. The submissions also noted that Bharat Hindu Samaj has no alternative premises, while UKIM operates around 40 centres and 60 branches across the UK, the BBC reported.
For the council, Catherine Rowlands denied the allegations, saying there was "nothing before the court" to show the cabinet had been misled or had unlawfully delegated its powers. She argued the council had been "acutely conscious" of the temple's importance and reached its decision only after years of engagement with the trustees and a "transparent, fair and lawful bidding process."
While both UKIM and Bharat Hindu Samaj have stressed that the dispute is not one faith against another, the proposed sale has fuelled tensions in Peterborough. According to The Telegraph, messages circulating within the local Hindu community accused the council of discrimination and questioned why the city's only Hindu temple was being displaced.
Temple trustee Gauri Chaudhary echoed those concerns in an interview with India Today TV.
"There are 19 other mosques in the city. There are more than 100 churches. This is the only Hindu temple within a 50-kilometre radius. The question needs to be asked of Peterborough City Council: what made them displace the only Hindu temple and give it to another faith that already has 19 other places to go to?" she said.
Peterborough City Council leader Shabina Qayyum, meanwhile, told The Telegraph that the council would not comment on the case until the High Court delivers its judgment. She acknowledged that the sale had caused "anxiety and upset" within the Hindu community and said the council remained committed to working with residents to find a positive way forward. Qayyum added that officials had been exploring alternative premises for Bharat Hindu Samaj and assured the community it "will not be left without a home".
As the High Court weighs the lawfulness of the council's bidding process against its obligations under the Equality Act, Peterborough's Hindu community remains on edge. For now, the injunction holds the sale at bay, leaving the future of the region's only Hindu temple hanging in the balance.
A 40-year-old Hindu temple in the city of Peterborough in the UK, founded by Indian refugees expelled from Uganda, is fighting for survival after the complex housing it was sold to an Islamic group planning to build a mosque on the site.
The Bharat Hindu Samaj (BHS) temple has run from the New England Complex since 1986. The temple was founded by families expelled from Uganda by dictator Idi Amin in 1972.
That complex, however, has since then been sold to the Khadijah Mosque, part of the United Kingdom Islamic Mission, by the Labour Party-led Peterborough City Council as part of its plans to repay it's roughly 500 million pound debt, reported the UK-based newspaper, The Telegraph. The newspaper also reported that the sale went ahead despite temple trustees offering a sum of 1.3 million pounds, an offer which they attest was ignored for months.
"Peterborough City Council told us in March 2025 that we could buy the property, and we put an offer in place for 1.3 million pounds. We did not get any response from them until September 2025. All we came to know was that it was going to the best and final offer stage, and now we had to put in a bid," trustee Gauri Chaudhary told India Today TV.
According to a report in The Telegraph, the Khadiajah Mosque purchased the complex in order to build what it described as a "unity centre" prayer spaces, classrooms, and sports and recreation activities.
Despite the decision being referred back to the council’s cabinet amid an outcry, it was upheld at a meeting in February this year. In response, the trustees secured an injunction preventing the local authority from selling the site and swiftly raised 86,000 pounds via a GoFundMe campaign with the help of donations from across the world, reported The Telegraph.
The UK High Court is now hearing the case, with petitioners telling the Court that the city council's decision to sell the site of the "principal place of worship for Hindus" in the East of England to an Islamic organisation was unlawful and should be quashed.
WHY DID THE PETERBOROUGH CITY COUNCIL SELL THE BHS TEMPLE TO AN ISLAMIC GROUP?
Founded by families expelled from Uganda by dictator Idi Amin in 1972, the Bharat Hindu Samaj (BHS) temple in Peterborough is the only Hindu temple within a 35-mile radius of the city. It serves nearly 14,000 Hindus across Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Lincolnshire. Its adjoining community centre hosts a range of activities, including badminton and table tennis clubs, yoga classes, Gujarati and Hindi lessons, health programmes, and a lunch club for senior citizens.
However, in 2025, Peterborough City Council, led by Labour Party leader Shabina Qayyum, decided to sell the former school building at the New England Complex as part of efforts to reduce its nearly 500 million pound debt burden.
BHS Temple trustees, who had been negotiating with the council for years to purchase the complex, submitted an offer of 1.3 million pounds. However, they said they were later informed that the property had been placed on the open market and that a bidder had already been selected — the Khadijah Mosque, part of the United Kingdom Islamic Mission (UKIM), a UK-registered charity.
The decision left BHS trustees disappointed, as they had hoped to secure the complex to expand the temple’s community activities. Speaking to India Today TV, trustee Gauri Chaudhary said the council did not respond to their offer for several months.
"Peterborough City Council told us in March 2025 that we could buy the property, and we put an offer in place for 1.3 million pounds. We did not get any response from them until September 2025. All we came to know was that it was going to the best and final offer stage, and now we had to put in a bid," she said.
The Khadijah Mosque is among at least nine mosques in Peterborough, a city with a population of around 225,000. According to the 2021 UK census, Muslims make up 12.2% of the city’s population, up from 9.4% a decade earlier, while Hindus account for 1.8%, compared with 1.5% in 2011.
According to a report in The Telegraph, The Khadijah Mosque stated it has outgrown its home of nearly 40 years and wanted to go ahead with the purchase of the New England Complex to fulfil its plans for a new "unity centre" – an "inclusive" facility designed to house prayer spaces, classrooms, and sports and recreation activities.
TEMPLE TRUSTEES MANAGED TO HALT SALE, APPROACH HIGH COURT
Following Peterborough City Council selling the complex housing the Bharat Hindu Samaj, its trustees secured an injunction preventing the local authority from selling the site and swiftly raised 86,000 pounds via a GoFundMe campaign, reported The Telegraph.
At a High Court hearing on June 11, Toby Fisher, representing Bharat Hindu Samaj, argued that the case was not a challenge to the United Kingdom Islamic Mission (UKIM) but to the lawfulness of Peterborough City Council's decision-making process, the BBC reported.
Fisher told the court the temple had been negotiating to buy the New England Complex since 2017. However, after UKIM submitted a bid in 2024, the council invited "best and final offers" before approving the sale to the Islamic organisation in February. Court submissions said UKIM had pledged to outbid any cash offer by up to 5%.
Fisher argued the council's decision-making process was legally flawed, alleging councillors had "blindly" accepted officers' recommendations and failed to properly consider, as required under the Equality Act 2010, the impact of closing the region's only Hindu temple. The submissions also noted that Bharat Hindu Samaj has no alternative premises, while UKIM operates around 40 centres and 60 branches across the UK, the BBC reported.
For the council, Catherine Rowlands denied the allegations, saying there was "nothing before the court" to show the cabinet had been misled or had unlawfully delegated its powers. She argued the council had been "acutely conscious" of the temple's importance and reached its decision only after years of engagement with the trustees and a "transparent, fair and lawful bidding process."
While both UKIM and Bharat Hindu Samaj have stressed that the dispute is not one faith against another, the proposed sale has fuelled tensions in Peterborough. According to The Telegraph, messages circulating within the local Hindu community accused the council of discrimination and questioned why the city's only Hindu temple was being displaced.
Temple trustee Gauri Chaudhary echoed those concerns in an interview with India Today TV.
"There are 19 other mosques in the city. There are more than 100 churches. This is the only Hindu temple within a 50-kilometre radius. The question needs to be asked of Peterborough City Council: what made them displace the only Hindu temple and give it to another faith that already has 19 other places to go to?" she said.
Peterborough City Council leader Shabina Qayyum, meanwhile, told The Telegraph that the council would not comment on the case until the High Court delivers its judgment. She acknowledged that the sale had caused "anxiety and upset" within the Hindu community and said the council remained committed to working with residents to find a positive way forward. Qayyum added that officials had been exploring alternative premises for Bharat Hindu Samaj and assured the community it "will not be left without a home".
As the High Court weighs the lawfulness of the council's bidding process against its obligations under the Equality Act, Peterborough's Hindu community remains on edge. For now, the injunction holds the sale at bay, leaving the future of the region's only Hindu temple hanging in the balance.
